BEAUTY IS IN THE EYE OF THE BEHEADED

This is something that has been on my mind lately. The idea is old and used up like a rotten corpse. It’s nothing profound, but it is written here nonetheless. I’ve noticed more and more how easily humans are rounded up and shoved down one-thought troughs. Specifically, at this point I’m thinking of beauty in both men and women. Health is one thing. It is important for us to get enough exercise and eat the right foods at the right proportions to maintain healthy bodies. But I’m talking about beauty beyond that.

We all have a personal ideal of what is beautiful (or at least we did at one point in our lives). That is what makes us all unique and paints our environment with individuality. It goes beyond the constant brainwashing of the Calvin Klein billboards. But when there is one world ideal of beauty that passes among the masses and it’s absorbed into their grey matter, this colorful world turns black and white. What we have is a bunch of beautiful people who all look the same and a bunch of not-so-beautiful people who all look the same.

Women and Men have both been victims of this control. Women, for decades have been encouraged to shave their legs and their pits. Now, a well-maintained yard goes beyond just those regions. The same is true now for men. The idea of beauty in a man is pre-pubescent bald from the neck down. There is one body shape that is beautiful, one preference for hair that is beautiful, one type of skin, one tone in muscle and one style of wardrobe. In order to be beautiful we must all squeeze into the same mold. There are the few that fight this control and hold onto individuality.

I pretty much have three turn-ons in women. 1) I love stockings. Not necessarily nylons (although I don’t oppose them) but my Tex Avery wolf is aroused over striped, argyle, skeletal print, wool, fishnet…pretty much any type of expressive stocking. 2) Glasses. I love a woman in glasses. Maybe, not all glasses. My smokestack doesn’t blow for the old 70s Owl eyed spectacles. But a woman in attractive frames will get a double take. Whether it is true or not, glasses reflect a since of maturity and intellect as well as independent thought. 3) Hair pulled back or up is always hot. I’m not saying I have a thing for Amish women, but the sophistication of pulled up hair revs my motor.

Okay enough about my fetishes. But I do have a point. Pretty much two of these things are constantly hammered into the not-so-attractive plank of wood. In the 1946 adaptation of Raymond Chandler’s The Big Sleep, Humphrey Bogart’s character insinuates to a librarian to remove her glasses. It isn’t until she does so and drops her hair that he finds her as an object of attraction. This is an age-old perspective that gave rise to the eye contact and hair straightener corporations that are now taking over the world. I hold Bogey in high regards, but as for me I’ll take the librarian over the bimbo.

I know it’s a clichéd saying, but true beauty is on the inside. Love is evidence of this. If someone has the capacity to love, they find beauty beyond physical flaws. For those of you who are incapable of love…well, I guess I don’t envy you. We are all on this world for a very short time. Within that time, there is a shorter amount of time that we are mature enough yet young enough to be attractive. Then what? Breast augmentations? Face lifts? Tummy tucks? Rogaine? Viagra? They’ve created things for us to spend our money on to buy the false security we place in being attractive. But it all leaves us empty. The path to happiness heads the other direction! What should we be spending our energy on…fitting into a mold (some will never fit into), or giving something to the world? Create art, paint, dance, sing, tell stories, cook, love, help the needy, start a revolution…anything but fall into this shallow grave of distraction. Women, love your cuddly bears. Men, hold your skinny “A” cup sweethearts close. And seniors, grab that wrinkled face and kiss it long, because very few people will achieve the depths of love you share with each other. Fly your colors proud (you are beautiful as you are) and lets stick it to the man who is trying to paint this world drab.

That is my rant.

Be grim!

Gris Grimly