Beautiful

A while ago, I had the chance to discuss with a few friends about the term "beauty." Somehow, amidst the discussion, we've talked about some movie stars from the past, and the name Audrey Hepburn was mentioned.

Audrey Hepburn was a famous actress in the 50s and 60s. Obviously before my time, the only recall I have of her looks was through the reruns of movies like The Roman Holiday or My Fair Lady. I don’t know if she is considered beautiful or not (some say her eyes were proportionally too large compared to her face; others say she was too skinny or bony, etc.), but I do remember pictures taken of her towards the end of her life, when she was a frequent visitor to Africa and other countries under poverty with UNICEF. I don’t know about you, but I think she looks very beautiful in them. Here's one example:Age may have left an indelible mark on Ms. Hepburn, but there is a beauty that no make-up can create.

I browsed around the Internet for more, and found some other pictures. Some of these ladies are very pretty to begin with while some are not. But, without exception, they all look beautiful:

I know it is almost ludicrous, or certainly foolish, for me to suggest that people stop using make-up. But, come to think of it, are we spending too much time worrying about how pretty we look, and forgetting completely to cultivate our true beauty? We all have 24 hours a day. Take away 8 hours of quality sleeping time, and you are left with 16 hours. If you spend half an hour every few hours to fix your hair, re-do your eye-shadow, put on blushes, etc., how much time, legitimately, do you have remaining to truly make yourself beautiful?
If I may, just a brief description of the other four pictures: the picture on the left shows former HK singer Cass Phang visiting India with ORBIS to see the children whose eyesights were permanently damaged due to unclean water. The picture on the right shows a Chinese policewomen during the Sichuan earthquake in May. When she arrived at the scene and saw that many babies who were still nursing have lost their mothers, she immediately unbutton herself to nurse one of the nameless babies. The third picture is of Mother Theresa, and I'm sure this is just one of the millions of pictures of her looking after a child. The final one involves another Hong Kong artist, Gigi Leung, paying a visit with UNICEF to Mongolia. In the picture, she was playing with a child whose brain was permanently damaged due to extreme mal-nourishment after birth.

All of the ladies above look gorgeous to me, but they do not necessarily wear make-up. Are YOU beautiful today?

Represent!

In the last entry I talked about my disappointment towards some selfish people and their despicable act. I came across a story later, and I really wanted to share it with you:

A woman was driving her car home one day. The traffic was terrible that early evening. To make matters worse, some drivers were driving in ways that were really annoying: changing lanes without signalling, cutting lanes dangerously, you name it. The woman got increasingly fed up with this scene, so started honking at any cars and drivers who she believed was getting on her nerves.

A while later, when the woman finally managed to get away from an area of excessive volume, she noticed a police car was behind her and had its lights on. The woman saw the police car pulling ahead, and signalling her to stop. The woman was confused: yes, she sometimes would speed, and had crossed an occasional red light, but how could she have done either of those from such terrible traffic? Unsure if she had made any traffic violation, she pulled over bewilderedly.

The policeman approached her and asked for her insurance paper and driver’s licence, and later returned the documentations to her and said she could go. The woman was really, really confused right about now. So she asked the police officer if something was wrong: "No, ma'am. It's just that, when I saw the WWJD (What Would Jesus Do?) bumper sticker, and saw how you were honking at everybody, I was not sure if your vehicle was stolen..." The woman by now was blood-red, completely embarrassed and ashamed...

Knowingly or unknowingly, willingly or unwillingly, we go into this world representing a lot of things: for me, I am a Chinese-Canadian, I am a Christian, I am a teacher, I am a brother, I am a whole lot of things. I am the last person who likes stereotypes, but stereotypes sometimes do have their place. When we fail to represent, should we feel a little embarrassed and ashamed also?