Real Beauty: A Mom's Perspective

While I think women should choose what is right for their own situation, I'm in the camp that cosmetic surgery is only worth the risk and pain if it's for some sort of repair work - fixing a cleft palate, replacing a breast after mastectomy, for example, or minimizing scarring from an accident. I mean, look what happened to Kanye West's mom. I personally don't want to give up any of my remaining years with my son and daughter because of some procedure that's not absolutely necessary. I see a lot of breast and lip work out here (yes, it's rampant in Southern California) but honestly, some of it is way too obvious and not that attractive. But I can certainly understand it if a girl wants a tummy tuck after doing years of ab crunches without any good results!

A few weeks ago, my friend on Facebook shared a video called "Evolution." It was produced by the people at Dove's Campaign for Real Beauty, to raise awareness of the role media plays in our perception of beauty. As a mom of a preteen daughter, I am a bit concerned about societal attitudes about beauty and what they mean for our girls' self-esteem. As parents, our girls are so inherently beautiful to us that we sometimes can't imagine that they would think otherwise. But they do! They make comments, like "Am I too fat?", or "I'm not pretty" quite often. How can they compare themselves to the unrealistic, Photoshop-edited girls they see in the media?

As moms, we have the responsibility to set an example to our daughters. As a Christian, I hold onto certain Bible passages that reaffirm the natural, inner beauty of girls and women, in the hope that I can somehow pass their meaning on to my daughter. One of the verses: Proverbs Ch 31:30 "Charm is deceptive, and beauty is fleeting; but a woman who fears the Lord is to be praised." It's something we all learn as we age - certain things don't last forever, so we shouldn't put so much stake into them.

In 1 Peter 3:3, it says "Your beauty should not come from outward adornment, such as braided hair and the wearing of gold jewelry and fine clothes. Instead, it should be that of your inner self, the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is of great worth in God's sight." To me this passage doesn't mean a girl shouldn't wear jewelry or nice clothes, or have cosmetic surgery, just that her beauty doesn't come from these external things, it comes from her inner spirit.

Or as Forrest Gump might have said it, "Pretty is as pretty does."

_{Forrest Gump really said, "Stupid is as stupid does."}