Saturday 26 May 2007

Cosmetic Surgery

I don't get the whole thing with cosmetic surgery or the obsession with appearances. Where is the obsession with a person's mind? Shouldn't what an individual have to contribute to a debate mean a whole bunch more than how they look?

Now, I know I will get it in the neck for this post. And I do differentiate cosmetic surgery and plastic surgery. Plastic surgery is that which is required for medical purposes. Severely disfigured people and even breast reductions to relieve back pain are wholly excusable. What I'm talking about here is cosmetic surgery solely for the purposes of looking better, looking younger, looking like gravity and toxins doesn't exist in your world.


Too often, we are guiltly of judging a book by its cover. We elect our politicians based on how they look. I have heard that JFK won the Nixon-Kennedy televised debate simply because he wore makeup and Nixon didn't. A lot has been made of John Edwards fussing with his hair for an extravagantly long time before a television interview. I would too, if what I was about to say wasn't going to be heard if a hair was distractingly out of place.


We are born. Our skin is soft and for the most part absent of blemish. We enter childhood and the sunshine adds freckles. We enter puberty and hormones add spots. Sometimes disease like chicken pocks leave scars. We run into things or get hit by things that add scars. As women, we become fixated with using beauty products to alter what we look like when we wake up in the morning. Some women are unrecognizable without their makeup.


And then we age. Women, and increasingly men, spend a vast sum of money on anti-ageing creams. I'm talking billions of dollars. This article talks about the green impact of all those beauty products.


What's wrong with showing your age? Doesn't the appearance of wrinkles indicate that you're not as naive and idealistic as you used to be? Don't the hands of an old woman make you appreciate all she has done with her life and the struggles she has survived? You'll see the caption on my blog profile picture says "Wrinkles are Wisdom". I believe this.


Whilst I appreciate the enthusiasm of youth, I tend to bow to the wisdom of experience. Besides I am very suspicious of these people who tell me they have no time for reading when they are immaculately groomed. Although I do have profound respect for those people who manage both! Looking beatufiul and young takes time, money, and dedication. Do you know how much a face scrub costs? And is it seriously painful. And the risks involved are enormous.


Imagine if all the money spent on cosmetic surgery in the US alone was sent to New Orleans, LA. I bet we could rebuild that city! Isn't that a higher priority?


We all have to die of something. Believe it or not, life is terminal. Sometimes the good die far too young. And the bad live way to long. We can't change that. It is what it is. We can strive to find cures for diseases and we can aim to live healthy lifestyles. But ultimately we are all going to die. The sooner we make peace with this, the better. And what is wrong with showing the journey of life in our faces, our necks, our hands, our bodies?

4 comments:

Brooke said...

I am sure you all are going to say this is my age and it is popular with my era. I don't see a problem with cosmetic surgery. People should not judge it like they do. People do it for many reasons. Someone very very very close to me had it and it was done to make that person feel more of the gender that they are. This person has a better self esteem and is more confident with themself. Which is great to see because they aren't taken advantage of anymore. Yes it can be addicting but that is when you have self control in the whole issue.

The whole new orleans thing is sad but they choose to live there and know the consequences living in that area. Just like we have tornadoes here and California has earthquakes. It comes with the territory with where you live. We have flooding going on where I live right now with all the rain. Do they have benefits going on by the celebrites to rebuild these towns?

I am sorry if I sound like I am upset but both of these issues just really bother me. These are just my opinions take them or leave them.

JMarie said...

LaDawn...amen sista...except I am signing up for a boob lift as soon as I'm done nursing babies. They're seriously hanging low, and I've only had one baby so far. I do agree about gratuitous surgeries though.

LaDawn said...

Some people don't have the affluence to chose where they live. And the government had built levees and told them their homes were safe. Most disturbing is the fact that people can see other people suffering and say well, they chose that so tough. Hundreds of thousand died in the tsunami of 2004 and millions were left homeless. Do we turn our backs on them?

Janell said...

Proverbs 20:29 (NIV) “The glory of young men is their strength, gray hair the splendor of the old.” This tells me that every stage of life has its advantages as well as its visible signs. If we don’t try to hide the signs of our youth, why bother to hide the signs of our oldth? (There’s no such word as oldth. I made it up.)

The levees were strong enough to protect them for several decades, until Katrina came along. Some things happen that the government can not protect people from. John F. Kennedy (D) said, “Ask not what your country can do for you. Ask what you can do for your country.”