skin
These are my scribblings on the only one of the Sunday Scribblings topics since the first of July which I failed to get posted. I know they are now much too late to post to that website, but I shall post them to my blog any way. I did not find this topic easy, but my thoughts went in a different direction than most I read. And I did spend some considerable time and thought on the topic.
"Beauty is only skin deep"
"Pretty is as pretty does"
These time worn adages which I am sure I heard from my mother more times than I can count, are the things that come to mind when I ponder this week's topic: skin.
Although attractive by most standards, my mother was not a classic beauty. In fact, she chose to go by her middle name because she considered herself to be plain-looking with a very plain and forgetable name; and she was smart enough to know she did not want to be invisible and forgotten. How laughable that seems to me now. No one who ever really knew my mom will ever forget her. Mother was beautiful from the inside out. She was a little dynamo, a ball of energy, bright and involved--in her church, her community and in her children's life. She was president of the local garden club, vice-president of the Women's Club, and one of our Girl Scout troop leaders 'til my friends and I completed tenth grade. Although Dad was also a deeply commited Christian and an extraordinary role model, it was from Mother that I mostly learned the true meaning of faith and trust in the Lord, who loves us infinitely and has unfailing interest in our everyday life, and who, if we ask, will help us every day. Although beautiful skin and hair and features are extremely nice to be blessed with, it is love and faith coming from inside that make a person beautiful.
I have known people whose physical appearance was breath-taking, show stopping; yet once I got to know them, some of these were NOT beautiful. And thus I am reminded of Oscar Wilde's classic novel, "The Portrait of Dorian Gray," about the beautiful but rakishly evil and dishonest young man whose vile behavior was reflected only on his face and body as it appeared in his portrait, until his death. (If you've never read it, you should.)
It is not Botox or plastic surgery, I recommend, although I strongly urge the use of sunscreen to preserve the skin. The beauty reflected in one's face needs to comefrom what is inside: from faith, laughter, deep caring for one's fellow man/woman/creatures of this earth, and a true love of and spirit for life.
"Beauty is only skin deep"
"Pretty is as pretty does"
These time worn adages which I am sure I heard from my mother more times than I can count, are the things that come to mind when I ponder this week's topic: skin.
Although attractive by most standards, my mother was not a classic beauty. In fact, she chose to go by her middle name because she considered herself to be plain-looking with a very plain and forgetable name; and she was smart enough to know she did not want to be invisible and forgotten. How laughable that seems to me now. No one who ever really knew my mom will ever forget her. Mother was beautiful from the inside out. She was a little dynamo, a ball of energy, bright and involved--in her church, her community and in her children's life. She was president of the local garden club, vice-president of the Women's Club, and one of our Girl Scout troop leaders 'til my friends and I completed tenth grade. Although Dad was also a deeply commited Christian and an extraordinary role model, it was from Mother that I mostly learned the true meaning of faith and trust in the Lord, who loves us infinitely and has unfailing interest in our everyday life, and who, if we ask, will help us every day. Although beautiful skin and hair and features are extremely nice to be blessed with, it is love and faith coming from inside that make a person beautiful.
I have known people whose physical appearance was breath-taking, show stopping; yet once I got to know them, some of these were NOT beautiful. And thus I am reminded of Oscar Wilde's classic novel, "The Portrait of Dorian Gray," about the beautiful but rakishly evil and dishonest young man whose vile behavior was reflected only on his face and body as it appeared in his portrait, until his death. (If you've never read it, you should.)
It is not Botox or plastic surgery, I recommend, although I strongly urge the use of sunscreen to preserve the skin. The beauty reflected in one's face needs to comefrom what is inside: from faith, laughter, deep caring for one's fellow man/woman/creatures of this earth, and a true love of and spirit for life.
posted by sundaycynce at 2:15 PM
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