curse of beauty?

its always a pleasure to be around beautiful things, whether its people or plants or colours. it never fails to make me happy because the mere thought of being beside something gorgeous somehow causes me to feel gorgeous as well. 

but u know, i just realised that sometimes aesthetic appeal may well be a curse rather than a blessing. i recently watched a show about beautiful woman, tall and slim with lovely features and long flowing hair, kinda like the type of woman every other woman wants to be. She was so appealing that she had no girlfriends because all the girls were either jealous of her or afraid their guys fall prey to her beauty, and no boyfriends as well because she couldn't find someone who was genuinely appreciative of her heart rather than her physical appearances. all in all, her beauty was what made her an extremely lonely person. so she tried desperately to change her size and looks, first by stuffing herself with food to become obese, then by starving herself to become anorexic, so that people around her would see her for personality and not her looks. she didn't succeed either way. finally, she fell into severe depression and killed herself.

i don't exactly believe that there is such a person in the world. i believe that ultimately beauty is in the eyes of the beholder, although society has tried to help us define what generally is regarded as desirable today. still, after watching such a show, i started to wonder if my beautiful friends have always thought of their charm as more distressing than helpful. i mean, sure there are countless advantages of being alluring, but these advantages aside, are there more disadvantages of being beautiful than advantages? perhaps people (esp guys) will never really be honest abt their intentions of wanting to be with or near you and hence, u are never able to tell a person's actual motive. isn't this more scary than being ugly? well, i certainly think it is. 

there's this one beauty/slimming product advertisement on a bus i saw the other day that ran a slogan i really hate: 'what nature takes away, science gives back'. i wondered what kind of message the company was trying to send while promoting their product. i mean, whatever is nature is natural, and whatever is natural is made to fade through time. and if there was a scientific method that could reverse the effects of nature, then wouldn't it be unnatural and hence artificial? why would anyone want to kid themselves that they would grow old or out of shape eventually? reminds me of how the First Emperor tried to look for a potion that could make him live eternally. so silly. 

perhaps people and especially women should be taught the concept of aging gracefully rather than to try and stop the clocks that are ticking in our bodies. truth is, we can never stay young forever, so instead of fighting it why not just embrace it. 

everyone is beautiful in their own way.