THE BEAUTIFUL YOU
We place great emphasis on a narrow idea of physical beauty. In an American history discussion group, the professor was trying to explain how, throughout history, the concept of "beauty" changes with time. "For example," he said, "take the 1921 Miss America. She stood five-foot-one inch tall, weighed 108 pounds and sported a 30-inch bust, a 25-inch waist and 32-inch hips. How do you think she'd do in today's version of the contest?"
The class fell silent for a moment. Then one student piped up, "Not very well.""Why is that?" asked the professor.
"For one thing," the student pointed out, "she'd be way too old."Good point -- she'd be way too old.
But beauty is a peculiar thing,for it means something a little different to each of us. And it isn't always about appearance. Sometimes beauty is a quality that softly shines from inner depths. And you may actually radiate more inner beauty than you realize.
An elderly woman noticed that her granddaughter felt embarrassed by her freckles. "I love your freckles," she said, kneeling beside the girl and admiring her face.
"Not me," the child replied.
"Well, when I was a little girl I always wanted freckles," the grandmother said, tracing her finger across the child's cheek."Freckles are beautiful."
The girl looked up. "Really?"
"Of course," said her grandmother. "Why just name one thing that's prettier than freckles."
The little girl peered into the old woman's smiling face, aglow with kindness and love. "Wrinkles," she answered softly.
The physical beauty of youth will fade. But the beauty of a spirit,when nurtured, can grow forever.-- Steve Goodier
12 comments:
Love this post :) So touching and so true!
xo
I've had very nearly the same conversation with my granddaughter (the one with freckles) but she didn't tell me she liked wrinkles!
LOL
Ahhh--beauty really is in the eye of the beholder.
Another such example is that someone like Marilyn Monroe would not be considered either a beauty today or a figure to be envied. However, I find her fragile beauty and her slightly more robust figure quite fine--far better than the stick thin look-alikes starlets of today.
Love this Bev. Thanks for posting it! BTW, like your border too. We never did get to a game when we were there. I think we were busy with the little nieces and nephew (that is, the little Great-nieces and nephews). Well, and their parents.
So sweet!
I have both freckles AND wrinkles... so I must be absolutely GORGEOUS!!!!!
What a lovely post... I bet that grandma had tears of joy in her eyes at the little girl's answer!
Love it and so true.
There's nothing that fades more quickly than physical beauty. When that's gone, we'd better have some inner beauty, or we're in trouble!
I'm with CTG!
My very best friend, from 6th grade on up, was deemed "beautiful" by every guy we knew, in our teens. I learned years later that she had felt ugly because of her stocky build, and there was something about her face she didn't like. I don't remember, now. And 7 or 8 years after I was married, I learned that she had never heard any of the guys say she was beautiful, and she had so longed for it.
We saw her and her husband almost a year and a half ago; I had not seen her in about 35 years. Her face would no longer be considered pretty, but she still has the same powerfully magnetic personality I remembered and always loved. If she had relied on physical beauty, instead of loving, enjoying and caring for people, she'd be very lonely, by now.
So so true!
So very touching... thank you for this.
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