Is Beauty Truly Skin Deep?

"My friends ask, what do I see in you,
 but it goes deeper than the eye can view.
 You have a pleasin' personality,
 and that's an ever lovin' rare quality.
 Now show me a girl, a girl that's fine,
 and I'll choose the one with true lovin' every time."

"Beauty Is Only Skin Deep" - Sung by The Temptations, written by Norman Whitfield and Edward Holland, Jr.

It's hard not to think of beauty in terms of the physical form.  Physical beauty stares us right in the face every day - like when we walk past magazines in the supermarket or when we turn on the TV.  We are flooded with pretty faces, shapely bodies and shows about transforming ourselves to look and feel better.  

I don't think I'm alone when I say that beauty freaks me out a bit.  Beauty to me has never been seen in terms of the exterior.   Why?  I was given the gift  - I admit some days I wouldn't agree - of being born with a physical disability.  Right from birth my body was different and would be seen as such.  Even now proportionately I'm way off from the vision of perfection.  It's a continued thought process that beauty is not only physical, but it's what is inside that counts too.  

Disability aside, I'm like any other woman and I have frustrations with my exterior.  I look in the mirror most days and see a new flaw.  After weighing myself I realize I've gained a few extra pounds, and there's that never ending want of wavy hair.  However, there is something to be said about being comfortable in your own body - flaws and all.  

Most of the time I am comfortable with my unusual physique.  I own my differences and embrace them in a way that can help others feel better about not being the norm.  I told a good friend once 'I am on the outside what people feel on the inside - all fucked up.'  Okay so she didn't fully agree with me on saying the f-ed up part, but she did agree that the physical disability did break the ice a bit.

So is beauty truly skin deep?  Is this just something we tell others so they feel better about themselves?  Does inner beauty shine through?  

I have come to appreciate - which took many years in the making - that we are are the creators of our own beauty.  Beauty doesn't need to have the perfect body or flawless look on Facebook.  But we need to embrace our inner beauty and let it shine through!  

- Lucia - 

Comments

[Brandon]

If beauty is in the eye of the beholder, then if the beholder believes they are beautiful, what's wrong with that? Confidence about your inner and outer beauty, flaws and all, speaks much more about you than those turning you down and shutting you out. If you truly accept who you are as a person, then nobody can tell you that you aren't beautiful.

On a small side note, the role the media plays in depicting "healthy" body image is pathetic. Healthy is not making yourself puke. Healthy is not starving yourself. Healthy is not taking so many supplements and vitamins that you lose track.