Pride and Prejudice
Hmm.. to start this blog off, I’ll begin with a funny thing I heard from kevs the other day.
George W. Bush: "American intelligence has concluded that Osama Bin Ladin is either in Afghanistan, in another country or dead" (THANK goodness for American intelligence, it’s never wrong!)
Now to the real stuff. Recently, quite a few people have been asking me about girls... and whether or not I reckon they’re hot, or pretty, or good looking or cute or blah blah blah. And the response I always give is "everyone’s beautiful". Most of them don’t really understand me so I guess I’ll explain it all in my blog.
To start it off, to me, there’s a difference between being beautiful, being attractive and being in love. I dunno much about the last one (well I guess my mum loves me... does that count?), so I’ll concentrate on the first two, beauty and attraction. To many people, if they find someone attractive, they believe they’re beautiful (or handsome or hot or whatever). And if they don’t find them attractive, they think they’re ugly.
So basically, to most people attraction = beauty and unattractiveness = ugliness
However, if we look at the bible, we come across two interesting verses.
Genesis 1:27
So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.
Ecclesiastes 3:11a
He has made everything beautiful in its time.
So God, being the most awesome and most beautiful ‘thing’ in the universe, a beauty we can’t even fathom, made us in His own image, a beautiful image. He is the creator of everything, and right from the beginning of time, he set out to make humans beautiful. So if someone is ugly, there can only be one explanation... God stuffed up in his creation... which is a paradox really because if God failed at what He set out to do, He wouldn’t be God! Some people were not hit with the ugly stick or whatever, we were all created out of His love, a love that makes us all beautiful!
But the really sad thing is that many people (especially guys) treat others purely based on their looks. To them, 'ugly' people just aren’t worth their time.
This reminds me of an experiment performed a few years ago. They got a super model to ‘accidentally’ drop some groceries on the floor. Instantaneously, guys flocked around her to help. However, when the super model dressed in a fat suit (with some ‘fat’ looking touch ups from makeup artists) and did the same thing, no one would help her pick up her dropped groceries... even when she asked for help. Real shallow.
I see this kind of mentality all around me, pretty much in every environment I’m in. People ‘flocking’ and treating the ‘beauties’ with care and respect while giving the ‘uglies’ nothing more than their ass, disrespect and scorn. Sometimes I feel like slapping em over the head and telling to get over themselves.
Now of course I don’t mean that we have to be best friends with everyone but when you start treating people disrespectfully and with prejudice purely based on their looks, that’s when it starts to get irritating (to me anyway).
And before you ask, no I haven’t been treated badly or anything, in fact the friends I know are probably the most respectful bunch of people around (brownie points for all my friends!). This shallow attitude is just something I’ve been seeing more and more of lately and it’s starting to tick me off! Hmm I better stop there... enough bickering for now. As for the beauty/attraction thing, that’s my opinion, feel free to prove me wrong. :)
"If the creator had a purpose in equipping us with a neck, He surely meant us to stick it out." - Arthur Koestler
George W. Bush: "American intelligence has concluded that Osama Bin Ladin is either in Afghanistan, in another country or dead" (THANK goodness for American intelligence, it’s never wrong!)
Now to the real stuff. Recently, quite a few people have been asking me about girls... and whether or not I reckon they’re hot, or pretty, or good looking or cute or blah blah blah. And the response I always give is "everyone’s beautiful". Most of them don’t really understand me so I guess I’ll explain it all in my blog.
To start it off, to me, there’s a difference between being beautiful, being attractive and being in love. I dunno much about the last one (well I guess my mum loves me... does that count?), so I’ll concentrate on the first two, beauty and attraction. To many people, if they find someone attractive, they believe they’re beautiful (or handsome or hot or whatever). And if they don’t find them attractive, they think they’re ugly.
So basically, to most people attraction = beauty and unattractiveness = ugliness
However, if we look at the bible, we come across two interesting verses.
Genesis 1:27
So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.
Ecclesiastes 3:11a
He has made everything beautiful in its time.
So God, being the most awesome and most beautiful ‘thing’ in the universe, a beauty we can’t even fathom, made us in His own image, a beautiful image. He is the creator of everything, and right from the beginning of time, he set out to make humans beautiful. So if someone is ugly, there can only be one explanation... God stuffed up in his creation... which is a paradox really because if God failed at what He set out to do, He wouldn’t be God! Some people were not hit with the ugly stick or whatever, we were all created out of His love, a love that makes us all beautiful!
But the really sad thing is that many people (especially guys) treat others purely based on their looks. To them, 'ugly' people just aren’t worth their time.
This reminds me of an experiment performed a few years ago. They got a super model to ‘accidentally’ drop some groceries on the floor. Instantaneously, guys flocked around her to help. However, when the super model dressed in a fat suit (with some ‘fat’ looking touch ups from makeup artists) and did the same thing, no one would help her pick up her dropped groceries... even when she asked for help. Real shallow.
I see this kind of mentality all around me, pretty much in every environment I’m in. People ‘flocking’ and treating the ‘beauties’ with care and respect while giving the ‘uglies’ nothing more than their ass, disrespect and scorn. Sometimes I feel like slapping em over the head and telling to get over themselves.
Now of course I don’t mean that we have to be best friends with everyone but when you start treating people disrespectfully and with prejudice purely based on their looks, that’s when it starts to get irritating (to me anyway).
And before you ask, no I haven’t been treated badly or anything, in fact the friends I know are probably the most respectful bunch of people around (brownie points for all my friends!). This shallow attitude is just something I’ve been seeing more and more of lately and it’s starting to tick me off! Hmm I better stop there... enough bickering for now. As for the beauty/attraction thing, that’s my opinion, feel free to prove me wrong. :)
"If the creator had a purpose in equipping us with a neck, He surely meant us to stick it out." - Arthur Koestler
posted by Dazz at 8:51 pm
4 Comments:
just a note
i heard this yesterday at Key of Knowledge actually, so it must be right if it's from the mouth of KJC..
God created man and woman in His image BEFORE the fall. After the fall, EVERYTHING (and i mean EVERYTHING, including our physical appearance) was corrupted because of Adam's sin. now that's why u see "physical ugliness" in this world, i believe that humanity in our original uncorrupted form was meant to be beautiful both physically and internally.
but as a consequence of sin, the world is introduced to the notion of having physical attractiveness and unattractiveness. which is where darryl ur blog fits right in.
and thats where I think personally God created the rule that states "beauty is in the eye of the beholder" which is real true once u think about it.
Hmmm... God didn't quite say that quote though (id I'd said it, it prob woulda been "attractiveness is in the eyes of the behloder" :P).
But I think with the introduction of sin, people just didn't turn ugly... but instead our perception of what was attractive/unattractive did. Took me a while to think of that haha.
Sure you get people born with no arms, legs etc etc... but I reckon if our heart was perfect, we'd still be able to see them as attractive.. of course our hearts arent.
But yer, I'm more agitated not at whether people think others are ugly but the prejudice (and I guess pride, just to make my title fit) that so often gets attached to this.
nah it wasnt god of course but i think its a good principle..
yea i dunno.. i think sin introduced the concept of physical ugliness, i don't think God is a God with no arms or legs. Of course, He is the Creator and hence is multi-faceted enough to still be their Father, but doesn't necessarily mean He originally intended for us to be born with deformities or with physical ugliness.
but its all moot because we're living after the Fall, thus we are confronted by the starkness of this world.
and yes u are right. too often there is stigma attached to the concept of beauty, cuteness, ugliness etc.. i think its alot more personal than what ppl think, and sometimes i do think guys actually just comment on someone's physical appearence just to fit in with the crowd.. for example someone mite say "wow she's dropdead gorgeous" and if that person has a reputation for being someone who looks at girls critically then every guy would look at the girl in question and nod their heads when in reality all they're thinking is.. "really?"
likewise with comments "damn how could u go out with her?" or "how could u find her attractive?", if ur not fully secure in urself u will find urself agreeing when in reality u find that girl attractive. has happened many times before.. and it happens all the time with guys (and most likely girls, tho eeryone knows guys are more visual).
anywayz.. i digress.
Nah I didn't go to the Call. I went to youth camp so my parents didn't really want me to go to that as well (the Call was right after camp).
And technically, no one's normal, cos we're all unique and special in our own ways :) (yay!) But yer, I understand you perfectly, keep the good stuff up man :)
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