Spectacles | Teen Ink

Spectacles

June 20, 2011
By graesales BRONZE, Badoc Ilocos Norte, Other
graesales BRONZE, Badoc Ilocos Norte, Other
2 articles 0 photos 0 comments

Ninety-five percent of the population in the world today is getting blind—and you might not be aware that you are indeed a part of it. Of course, there are many ways to particularly justify this, and first—actually the most obvious—is when you’re looking yourself in front of the mirror yet thinking of another person’s face to show up. Perhaps, a top Hollywood celebrity—Angelina Jolie, Emma Watson or Tom Cruise—or a supermodel like Kate Moss. Though one could probably be aware that that could be the most impossible thought a thinker could be thinking of, religious compliance to buy these products endorsed by these celebrities—whose faces, according to the TV, billboards and magazines, make up the definitions of what beauty truly is—is still seemingly inevitable thing to do for that someone.

Second scenario is the desire to stare, to touch and eventually to take away those things carried statically by some mannequins behind a boutique’s window glasses. The thirst for colorful, sparkling things would always be there, ringing behind your ears, directly whispering to you that you should have that to be called ‘beautiful’ or to at least have the access to the world of beauty.
But, why buy? Maybe you might just answer, ‘I buy because I love myself’. But think about it more, are you really buying because of loving yourself? Or are you just buying just to have this and that out of a nowhere-impulse? If you are in a state of confusion or in a necessity to deny something, you must really be one of those ninety-five percent unfortunates.

As centuries pass by, the concept that corrupts the concept of beauty is getting stronger. Actually, our present era could now be considered as the most corrupted for no one could even spell out what the term ‘beauty’ really means. People are mostly blinded by too much confusion which we could simply see on streets, on magazines, on TV and on internet. In fact, even coloring books for children also presents a certain form of confusion! (Why do fairytale characters have to be always good-looking? why always red, pouty lips for Little Mermaid? And fair skin for Snow White?—isn’t it that it somewhat degrades some of our racial traits? Really, confusion starts as early as preschool) And some personalities (like fashion experts) who would consider themselves as ‘beauty enthusiasts’ present the blurriest confusion to both the eyes and the mind—that is they themselves could be the corruptors of their own field for they are the one who had set the endless struggle for the definition of beauty. They dress celebrities the way they wanted them to appear; they convince people to love their style; they talk to people on advertisements as if there is something wrong with them—especially that Kristine Hermosa’s whatever’s-the-name skin whitening product endorsement (and who would forget about the glutathione mania!) which really attacks our natural brown skin tone—or as if they’re ugly—a model talking nonverbally, ‘Hey, how about you? What do you got?’ to the TV viewers—as a strategy to sell their products; people would become submissive for their self-confidence has gradually been destroyed; and at last, these experts gain praise, money and have now a certain kind of power over millions of blinded people. (And not only about those, they could also influence all these people about dieting; thus, started the worldwide starvation among ambitious ladies and guys. Yes, of course, they have to do that. Try to name a beauty expert who wanted to stir chubby ladies to wear some slim-sized cocktail gowns). Unfortunately, things won’t end up there for this is a cycle; thus, started again another struggle for the definition of beauty—destroying everything that they themselves had created the past cycles. This is vindicated by the seemingly unending evolution of clothes, of shoes, etcetera and the use of the term ‘outdated’ for discrimination.

Though I could consider ‘fads and trends’ as not that bad, obsession about it—which could always be possible because of the misuse of media—would always contribute for the cycle to continue cycling. Unfortunately, most people are now into this cycling, at most times without even any wondering or guilt. It gave them pleasure but also, unconsciously, gradually redirecting the entire human body to crave more and to crave endlessly. The superficial, artificial concept of beauty is now controlling our society. But this kind of concept is usually short-lived—it dies and then forced to be resurrected and reanimated by those people who pronounced themselves ‘beauty enthusiasts’. It isn’t also universal (Of course, you cannot always be dealing with no-money people and considerably old people about this). Therefore, this alone negates our innate idea of beauty.

Beauty is natural. It is not seen; it is felt. It is not out of just some material things that sparkles or attracts the eye. It is a lifetime ‘something’ which one could get an endless pleasure—definitely never fades (pants), never burdens someone’s lifestyle (not-really-rich shopaholics) and never puts one’s life at stake (breast, butt augmentation). And most of all, it is always inside—it is up to us to recognize it or not.
We do not need lots of those and that just to express whatever’s within. All we need are some nice simple stuff, a confident smile and some sort of spectacles which could see through the skin and the fabrics.



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