Beauty: A Blessing and a Curse?

You may have looked at the title of this article and gotten a bit confused. For goodness sake, is there a woman in the world who would not give her right arm to be beautiful; to get that extra bit of attention that those radiant women seem to get so easily; those stares that those women who seem to glitter as they walk by seem to get just by being; that extra bit of attention at stores, at work, and certainly from the opposite sex?

Well, let me tell you sisters: Beauty is in fact a blessing and a curse. Yes, you get a lot of male attention from all sorts of sources and it's not always easy to decipher if it's attention that you want or don't want. Yes, your car may get extra attention at the car wash, but maybe you are in a rush and really don't have that extra time. Yep, the guy at the dry cleaner's may get your stuff ready by the next day but at a price, darlings. He expects you to spend a little time interacting with him. And you just might have other things on your mind. And indeed the beautiful women may make poor choices when picking partners because men don't come with signs indicating the quality of their character and just because we have the gift of beauty doesn't mean we also have the gift of good judgment. The guy who you may easily size up as a potential soul-lacking partner may seduce the beautiful women into thinking that only he really understands us. Beauty and good judgment do NOT come as a package.

Next time you find yourself in the cubicle at work next to a visually delightful looking woman or even at a party or any other event or meeting place, I ask that you have a bit of special empathy for the "beauty." Her visual charm does not mean that she is immune from pain and suffering. It doesn't mean that she won't be delighted if you ask her how she is doing or whether or not she, too, might like a cup of coffee. And she may not be feeling so beautiful internally. Please don't make any assumptions about her life. Yep, she may have her share of dates, but she may be very lonely. Your simple bit of attention may just make her day.

Another thing that this group of glittery women would like you to know is that their beauty often comes at a high cost both time wise and financially. That woman does not roll out of bed with glitter on her eyelids and with that totally hip outfit on. She usually works at it. She's likely working hard to maintain those looks that simply required a bar of soap, some jeans and a hooded sweatshirt at age 15. Now, she is likely spending hours getting facials, fighting wrinkles, exercising, eating in a healthy fashion and praying that she has a good set of genes that will see her through the later years of her life with her beauty intact.

I say give this woman a break, look into her eyes, and see if she might need a bit of attention that is not based on her appearance. You will have done a good deed.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/barbara-greenberg/women-and-beauty_b_2010635.html

ADAM'S CURSE ~ William Butler Yeats.

We sat together at one summer's end,

That beautiful mild woman, your close friend,

And you and I, and talked of poetry.

I said, 'A line will take us hours maybe;

Yet if it does not seem a moment's thought,

Our stitching and unstitching has been naught.

Better go down upon your marrow-bones

And scrub a kitchen pavement, or break stones

Like an old pauper, in all kinds of weather;

For to articulate sweet sounds together

Is to work harder than all these, and yet

Be thought an idler by the noisy set

Of bankers, schoolmasters, and clergymen

The martyrs call the world.'

. . . . . . . . . And thereupon

That beautiful mild woman for whose sake

There's many a one shall find out all heartache

On finding that her voice is sweet and low

Replied, 'To be born woman is to know-

Although they do not talk of it at school-

That we must labour to be beautiful.'

I said, 'It's certain there is no fine thing

There have been lovers who thought love should be

So much compounded of high courtesy

That they would sigh and quote with learned looks

Precedents out of beautiful old books;

Yet now it seems an idle trade enough.'

We sat grown quiet at the name of love;

We saw the last embers of daylight die,

And in the trembling blue-green of the sky

A moon, worn as if it had been a shell

Washed by time's waters as they rose and fell

About the stars and broke in days and years.

I had a thought for no one's but your ears:

That you were beautiful, and that I strove

To love you in the old high way of love;

That it had all seemed happy, and yet we'd grown

As weary-hearted as that hollow moon