Reevaluating Beauty: Traditional Beauty Vs. Materialistic Beauty

Beauty. Who isn't preoccupied with beauty? A quick look at advertisements in the United States gives insight into the inner workings of our consumerist mindset; perfect women with perfect faces wear the perfect amount of makeup as their clothing perfectly fits their perfect bodies. Perfect men with perfectly chiseled chins are perfectly scruffy yet sophisticated looking while their perfect muscles gleam in the artificial sun.

I think we've missed the point. Beauty isn't about the young, tense bodies of the youth. Beauty isn't about buying that one magical product that will fix what is broken, create what is absent, or hide what is too prominent.

Beauty isn't about wearing the height of fashion while advertising for designers on every facet of our outer coverings and embellishments.

Beauty is a mother who spends her precious free time with her children. A man is made more beautiful by his respect for all women regardless of age, ethnicity, religion, or political bias. Children are beautiful when they explore, share, challenge, play and laugh.

Don't misunderstand me - I am still vain. I prefer to adorn my outer self with nice clothing, makeup, jewelry, scents, colors.... But I know that this is only part of beauty. I know that if I am ugly on the inside, all the work on the outside will be wasted.

How much time do you spend on the inner you? When was the last time you offered a kind word to a stranger? Smiled at a stranger? Even stopped to notice that there are strangers around you on a daily basis? When was the last time you stopped to reflect inwardly, whether it was meditation, prayer, silent contemplation, or stopping to smell the flowers? When was the last time you shared part of your heart with the world? When was the last time you let the world share part of its heart with you?

I suspect that the legendary lovers of the world, these Lailas, Heers, Juliets... these Romeos, Majnus, Ranjhas, were better known for their inward beauty - the outward beauty was what people first noticed, but not what created a lasting impression on the heart. Scheherazade undoubtedly was beautiful, but if her soul had been empty and cold she would have been killed like the three thousand before her time. And why is the Mona Lisa still considered to be an icon of beauty and grace -- her face would never grace the covers of Vogue or Harpar's Bazaar.

How did we lose sight of this? Why have we become so preoccupied with youth, both natural and artificial? When did we stop measuring others by good deeds and size of heart? When did materialism overthrow the true beauty of our world, and replace it with a cold facsimile?

If anyone figures this out, please let me know.