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@Jane

We Are All Beautiful, It's The Character That Makes Us Ugly ***September 3, 2021*** How do you define beauty? Some define beauty *as everything that makes them feel good**- in nature, people, in songs, art, things, places, etcetera.* @FarmGirl https://read.cash/@FarmGirl/beauty-as-i-eye-see-it-11dc0bc8 Some are minding *a* *good physical outlook* *for the sake of getting a beautiful product to avoid getting misfortunes in life.* @Eybyoung https://read.cash/@Eybyoung/do-you-even-care-about-looks-before-liking-or-dating-someone-86ae7190 Some *see beauty* *in little things* *because of their beautiful eyes. They can see beauty from the curve of the lips, to the pointed nose, the flipping hair, even with the rain, because beauty is all around us.* @Olasquare https://read.cash/@Olasquare/beauty-in-little-things-cf7c3107 Some say *human beauty is relative* *because we all have different preferences and that refers to beauty is in the eye of the beholder.* @Hart05 https://read.cash/@Hart05/human-beauty-is-relative-5838ce8f But some have a *beauty that they never see* *because they never thought they are until somebody reminds them of their beauty*. @emily2u https://read.cash/@emily2u/the-beauty-i-never-see-9f93427d When we were young, we were told the definition of ***beauty as anything that pleases our sense of sight. In some sense, it is used to compliment things, generally used for approval.*** A boss praising his employee who did his job well done, "*Excellent! Keep it up*." A mother praising her kid for doing chores by himself, "*Very good son*." A boyfriend seeing his girlfriend in a good outfit and make-up, "*You are beautiful today hon*." A kid seeing a butterfly landed on a flower, "*Mom look! A beautiful butterfly and flower!*" Those are just examples of how different people use the term beautiful in different ways. Just like others, I have a different definition of beauty as well, and it differs from when I was young where I only ***literally define beauty as anything pleasing to my eyes.*** A beautiful lady for me was something with a beautiful face, from the eyes, nose, smile, lips, and body shape. A beautiful thing for me was something with beautiful color and shape. Why? Because that is how people and the world define the term beauty, something pleasing to us and our eyes. Going down memory lane, I was directly called ugly by my relatives because I looked different from my mother. This relative of mine is pretty, of course, it runs in my mother's side family as other people say. Unfortunately, I was unlucky not to inherit that beauty from my family because I looked too different from them. From my color to physical attributes, I even thought that I don't belong to our clan and I was just adopted by my mother. My skin was so dark, probably because of playing long under the sun and inherited from my father's skin, and my appearance was totally different from my mother's. It happened one day when this relative paid a visit. She looked at me weirdly and have spoken some words that were engraved in my memory and still vivid clear up to this date. "*Manuel (my father) is not ugly, where did your kid inherit her physical attributes?*" My relative asked my mother. The moment I heard those hurtful words, I stepped into my room and stayed there until she left the house. My mother once told us not to interact with the visitors or play in the living room if there are other people in the house because she doesn't want us to be called "*pasaway*" or naughty kids. But it wasn't just the reason why I was staying away from the visitors and other people, I was locking myself inside my room because I don't want other people to see the ugly duckling me. When I was a kid, I wasn't confident with myself and had very low self-esteem. And that may be how I started forming an introverted self. That's how I defined beauty back then. I thought the only beautiful creatures in this world are those that incorporate the literal definition of beauty, having a pleasing physical appearance. As we grew up and saw the world exponentially, social media and the culture around us bombarded our minds with beautiful examples and photos showing different definitions of beauty. How people dress, smile, as well as products that will make people look beautiful in the eyes of many. I was a person who wanted to improve my physical beauty, so I dived into the new society and tried to look beautiful in the eyes of other people as well. I started to mind and take care of myself especially when I stepped into the stage of puberty. The same with other people on this stage, we learned how to use products that will make us pretty in front of the mirror. We changed the way we dress and act, to look decent in front of other people. Despite the changes, I still looked ugly in my eyes and ***I accepted it*** and just let it be. ***What can I do with that? That's what God gave me***, I thought. ***But as I gained wisdom and learned how to appreciate simple things in this world, I started to view the other side of beauty***. One day my college classmate wants me to be his girlfriend. That day I thought I wasn't really ugly because someone likes me. My professor then told me "***you are blooming"*** and even asked me to join the pageant for Foundation Day. But ramping in front of the crowd and wearing revealing clothes weren't my forte. After a year of living in the city, I went back to my province and my auntie told me "***you are getting lighter****.*" When I was taking my ID photo in a shop, I was required to smile to look better in my photo. The staff then told me, "***you have a beautiful smile***" and I smiled even wider. With those compliments, I started to think that I wasn't really too ugly, lol. ***And the ugly duckling started to evolve into a swan.*** *With this, I can say that the true beauty of a person starts to be revealed on the puberty stage like how we started to unfold the real story of the world. And a person will start to glow once she appreciates her own beauty.* And as the world started to evolve, people started to embrace the changes as well. The world has become full of aesthetics and people go along with the trend and fashion. They are wearing pretty dresses and make-up just to look beautiful in front of other people. Because they don't want to receive criticism. Some are even using concealers just to hide their flaws. The world seemed to only accept the literal definition of beauty. And people are making ways just to fit in the society. At work, my colleague once said to someone with pretty attire, "***even how pretty your clothes are, if your face is ugly, you are still ugly*****.**" That was the only line I remembered from this colleague of mine who was so full of himself and likes to criticize other people because he's a son of a fiscal officer. In the lavatory, one of our workmates was putting concealer on her face to cover her pimple marks. She looked beautiful after she retouched and then she stepped out. But on the other side, other workmates were whispering behind her back, calling her ugly stuff. And they continued to spread gossip about her even until they left the comfort room. *No matter how we conceal our flaws, people will always find ways to reveal them. But who looks ugly here? It's not the one with an ugly face, but those who are criticizing other people just because they are more powerful or look better than them.* There was one video about a beauty pageant in our hometown I watched last 2018 and all candidates have their unique beauties. The winner wasn't really beautiful but she won the crown. In fact, among all the candidates, she was the shortest, not sexy, and the not-so-pretty one. Why did she win? Because she slammed the stage with her excellent answer during the Q&A. Then some of the commenters of the video criticized the most beautiful candidate, "***what's the use of beauty if the brain is empty*****?**" *As time passed by, this line became a famous expression showing that "beauty without a brain is useless" and so people should also mind not just their beauty but also their brains.* Another former officemate of mine likes buying beautiful stuff for herself - makeup, clothes, shoes, bags - and always working on how to make herself pretty in front of other people. Their house happened to be just next to my boarding house and so I always saw her walking outside with her sexy clothes, high-heeled shoes, and she's very proud of her beauty. But wait for her to open her mouth, because almost every line she uttered has profanity words as part of her daily expressions, together with her friends in the same feathers, they all flocked together. At her home, I can hear her family shouting at each other using profanity words as well. No wonder why her character was ugly because she was raised in an ugly environment. *Some people are more busy building beautiful faces than building their beautiful character. Remember that your character is more important than any material possession you have, including your physical attributes. A beautiful dress, shoes, and makeup turn ugly when the character of the person wearing them is not beautiful. Even how beautiful you are, your character will always define your real self.* We are in this world full of filters and aesthetics to enhance our beauty and fix or cover our flaws. Because this filtered world convinced us that pleasing things are what we should aspire to be like. People are trying many ways, switching from one product to another to meet the criterion of beauty. I, myself, have been a victim of bullying and experienced insecurities too. I even tried changing my body shades for the sake of fitting into the standard of beauty. Because a whiter complexion can also add beauty, as many Filipinos thought. https://read.cash/@Jane/skincare-generation-the-darker-and-lighter-shade-of-me-14a7620b But I got sick of this beauty standard and appreciate what I have. I'm just dressing nicely just to be decent and not to make myself beautiful in the eyes of other people. Just like what @Bloghound said, *love thy skin**.* *We have to stay away from the strain to be perfect and learn how to appreciate our own beauty and love ourselves again*. https://read.cash/@Bloghound/love-thy-skin-d7252488 ***True beauty isn't just about having a pleasing appearance because true beauty lies deep within***. ***And all things were intricately created by God to be unique and beautiful*** ***and that includes us. Even a withered flower is still beautiful. The old tree is still beautiful. A mother's wrinkled skin is still beautiful. Our grandparents' white hair is beautiful. Shattered glass is beautiful. A nostalgic dirty wall is beautiful. Raindrops dropping on the mud are beautiful.***

I remember what my grandmother told us before, "***a concrete house is ugly if the inside part of it is muddy.***" What she meant was, a pretty house isn't pretty if the inside of it is dirty. So what's the use of building a concrete pretty house if people living in it don't know how to clean it? It will still look ugly in the eyes of other people. It's the same with us humans. Many are busy with making themselves pretty just to fit in the society and the standard of beauty, but not giving time to build their character beautifully. What is the use of building your physical character beautifully if deep inside you are rotting like a smelly fish? ***"We are all beautiful, it's the character that makes us ugly"*** This is the answer of @HappyAlice in my post on noisecash that inspires me to make this title. https://noise.cash/post/lk34pqq9

We all need to realize that our beauty wasn't made to last forever. ***Because as we age, beauty fades*****.** We should not be insecure with beautiful people around us because we are beautiful too. We just need to appreciate our own beauty and not be discouraged by the world's perception. Rather, ***we should build a beautiful character that will last forever and that will be remembered by the people around us***. And as we reach our ultimatum in this world, we will live on eternity with Christ.

This is my entry for the prompt **#15 Beauty** by @JonicaBradley https://read.cash/@JonicaBradley/writing-prompt-15-beauty-4a7a8b8d If you want to join.

Hey beautiful, thanks for reading 😉

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