Beauty Perfected?

What would the world be like without media.  I spent some time imagining it today.  No magazines on the grocery store tills, no TV commercials, no Facebook ‘available singles in your area’, no movie or rock stars.  No more fake perfection.  There are no magazines glorifying the one with weight related high blood pressure, acne, large nose syndrome and ears that would dwarf those of Dumbo’s.  No more “I was ugly but now I’m so beautiful” adds.  When was the last time you saw a lead character in a movie who was ugly.  Granted there are some such as Ugly Betty but the entire move is then hinged around the fact that they aren’t beautiful, the lack of beauty is the story line.  I was reading an article the other day that was explaining the extreme sexualisation of media.  Almost all media is designed to attract one or both genders in a sexual way.

Another article I was reading hit perhaps a more sensitive subject.  It said that so many people are influenced and steeped in pornography that they can no longer carry on real relationships with the opposite sex in a respectful manner.  Relationships, for both genders, are increasingly becoming a means to an end.

But it doesn’t end there.  Don’t forget the fact that we must have our nice cars and nice houses.  Pool is pretty much a must if you really want a really nice place.  The grass must be nicely cut and trimmed and free of dandelions.  Why?!?!?  Because the actor/actress has a nice house and an Aston Martin??  Who said that grass isn’t a weed anyways?!?  It is everywhere and you always have to be watering it and fertilizing it to make it look green only to find as a result that it grows faster and needs cutting AGAIN!  Why?  Who said that grass isn’t a weed and everything else is?  That one thing is beautiful and accepted and the other is simply not.

So here is what I’m thinking.  Without all these rehearsed and perfected media forms and all their computer edited and perfected people, would our lives look different.  Would we begin to care less and less about the clothing style and size.  Would we begin to realize that no one really has perfect skin and not worry about putting on makeup to feel better about ourselves or to hide the fact that we aren’t perfect either.  Would we begin to treat each other as people to serve and not simply tools of gratification and pleasure.

I’m not saying that makeup is wrong.  What I am doing is pointing out what I think is misplaced focus.  We worry so much about things that simply don’t matter that much.  We place so much attention on the things that are, at the end of the day, simply subjective preferences.  It’s time to find something more significant and worthwhile to focus on.

It’s Time

A favourite song of mine is ‘Gone’ by Switchfoot.  (Listen to it here - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YISE0wk9XbY&feature=related)  While I have listened to it hundreds of times the reality of the song really hit me anew this past week.  How quickly time passes, it seems like it was only yesterday when a boarded a ferry away from Thetis Island, BC but look at the time that has passed?  What did I do with the time?

I imagine you have heard the saying time is money.  It is also said you can follow your money to where your heart is.  Now this may seem elementary or like one of those “NO DUHHH!” things, but again, it struck me.  If it is true that time is money and you can follow your money to find what you love it is interesting what you might find.  What do you love?  What do you spend your time and money on?  Is it worth it?

These are questions I have been asking myself.  To be frank, the results of my thoughts are disappointing.  I found that much of what I do isn’t worth the time it takes.

The thing is, it’s hard to change.  But the longer I spend wasting time, the harder it is going to be to break out of the mold I have formed by and for myself.  I can’t take back the time I’ve wasted in the past, it’s gone.  I also know that the present is going to be gone before I know it.  It’s time for me to stop wasting time.