I think as a society, we need to think more about how things should be naturally and stop believing all the beauty rules that the world has made up: like blondes are prettier, skinny people are healthier, gray hair is unattractive and women who choose not to wear a confining and uncomfortable bra are just plain rude and provocative. We believe such lies in this world. It’s like imprisonment of our own making.
I hope one day we can break through these lies and accept the way God made us without all the embellishments that we feel we need to be pretty or handsome. It will take strong women and men to stand up and say, “No, Victoria’s Secret, I don’t need to buy your bras. No, Lady Clairol, my hair doesn’t need to be dyed. I like the foxy gray in it. No, Bic razor company, my legs and armpits are my concern, not yours. No, Big Pharma, I don’t need your Zoloft. I will work through my depression with other solutions. No, Revlon, my skin looks just fine without your blush and concealer.” Why is society always trying to make us feel inferior if we don’t buy this product or that product? Because they want our MONEY. We buy into the lie that we are less than perfect if we don’t buy $175 Tieks. We are like zombies, walking stiffly to the CVSs and Walgreens of America with no thoughts of our own. WAKE UP. WAKE UP.
We have been indoctrinated by society and manufacturers. It’s all a big DECEPTION. Wake up! You decide how to make yourself beautiful. Hey, wait! Let’s take that one step deeper. You decide what “beautiful” means to you. I’ll give you one clue: Real beauty is closer than you think, and it all begins with knowing who you are in God—how He made you, how He fashioned certain processes to best define you, like the graying of hair and the few wrinkles on your face that somehow the world has made you feel guilty about. Stop this madness. It’s deception. And it’s slavery to the moneymakers in the world. Just stop already.
Take a step back, look at yourself in the mirror and decide to love yourself for who you are. For the great smile you have. Or the beautiful eyes you have that stand out oh-so-much prettier without all that black smudging. And that’s my rant for today. It’s time we keep our few pennies and explore all the beautiful aspects of ourselves, sans society’s standards.
June Daniels, Melrose, FL