Heart Choices: 2007-06-24 -->

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What is Real Beauty?


I was fascinated by the Dove commercial called Evolution. It actually began on the Internet. I read this morning that it won the 2007 Cannes Film Grand Prix which is the big prize for people in the advertising industry. I was glad to read that because I think the advertisers have been going in the wrong direction regarding beauty.

You can click on the commercial and view it for yourself. But it really does show how our standards of beauty are pretty screwed up. An ordinary looking woman is transformed into a cover girl "beauty" with the help of makeup, hair and of course photo refinishing and touchup. Her face is plastered on a huge billboard as two young women walking by check it out. Do they really know that she doesn't really look like that? The message that women often get is that they need to measure up to that perfection, which actually is not perfection at all.

No wonder so many young girls are dieting and dealing with addictions and eating disorders. It's unrealistic to look like the ads in the magazines or the celebrities they see at the grocery checkout stand. What ever happened to the wholesome look? And whatever happened to developing those inner qualities?

How does this come back to choices? We have a choice to accept what "they" are telling us is fashionable and beautiful or to discard it and decide for ourselves. By the way, who exactly are "they" and why should we listen to them? I think it's normal to want to be pretty and to look nice but the obsession with being just like the images on billboards, magazines and in the movies is so impractical. I think we need to focus on the other qualities of honesty, intelligence, doing what is right, knowing what we believe and why. I've learned over the years that beauty only lasts so long. As I look in the mirror and see far too many wrinkles, I'm glad that I attempted to also focus on other areas of my life.

So, I'm thrilled with this Dove Evolution commercial. May young women view this and realize they are each beautiful in their own very special way.
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