So I was listening to some music the other day, and I was really listening; not going about with my chores while some guy sings in the background. I was having a rest day, and was sprawled on my bed hearing James Blunt sing ''You're beautiful", and the wheels in my brain started churning over the lyrics. The protagonist was a guy who was bowled over by the beauty of a woman he saw at the subway. Maybe it was really romantic and all that, but I was just thinking, what if it was a dim-witted lass who just happened to have a beautiful mother?
It left me puzzled as to why external beauty is so overrated. I mean, sure some people have the perfect long lashes, the puckered rosy lips, the almond-shaped eyes, and a nose sharper than the brain, but in the end, it is just an appearance. There's so much more to a person than how he appears. Why are the movies, and songs, and books not talking about passion? I know some people who are so passionate about the things they do, that you can actually see the twinkle in their eyes and the jump in their step whenever they talk about it; and I admire them for the love they harbour for this particular thing, may it be reading, painting, or just how the stars arrange into constellations. I am basically a tech-illiterate person, but when I hear some of my friends talk about these things, I listen. I listen not because I understand what they are blabbering about, but because their enthusiasm is so contagious that you want to know more about this wondrous strange thing. Now, if I were to cross eyes with the same person on a subway, I wouldn't look twice, and would go about my business without giving it a second thought. Because hey! He's just a mediocre looking person and I didn't go weak in my knees over his perfect bod.
So why are the movies, books, songs and every other kind of media not advertising zeal? Why are we not appreciating passion? Why do we run behind beauty, which, if I may, is just temporary. That beauty is going to be masked with wrinkles one day, or a really nasty rash you picked up in Foochow. However, the love you hold inside your mind and heart for your passion is perpetual. You're going to pursue it until your heart tells you that you have accomplished everything you've wanted. It is going to keep you striving for your endeavour, it's going to define your character. An attractive face with an empty mind is, in my opinion, a body without a soul in it. So dear writers, stop with these claims of outer beauty being superlative. Channel something more everlasting, something more substantial. Give the mediocre a chance. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder they say, what if beauty is in everything? Even the rock which is covered with moss and has little bugs crawling on it, because you know what?! Maybe it was formed even before your great-grandmother was born and it's still there waving goodbye to so many generations! Well, it's definitely way more interesting than the chick who posts a thousand selfies on Instagram. If you're going to admire the sculpture, also admire what it came from. Worship the core of a person, not the nincompoop with God-gifted external features.
Be that person who has a purpose in life, if you haven't found it yet, it doesn't matter. You will find it one fine day, maybe when you're twenty, or maybe even fifty, but you'll reach that. Impress with your mind, and you'll be beautiful in your own way. If it doesn't agree with the standards set by the world, just acknowledge the rebel that you are and defy the parameters set by the society, which changes with the fad. Be your own whetstone, break the stereotypes, redefine what the world thinks beauty is, and even though you're unaware of it, I'm certain that you will find it within you.
