Everybody is Beautiful

You have heard all about the ties that bind humanity. We have so many things in common. One of those things is a shared anatomy. I was so grateful that I did not have to learn African Anatomy, Asian Anatomy, and Caucasian Anatomy separately in medical school. It was just one Human Anatomy (and just one was more than enough). People share some many things in common and time will not permit a comprehensive list. Be that as it may, there is one thing that we all have in common and that one thing is beauty. Everybody is beautiful.

Physical Beauty is what springs to mind when this topic comes up. Beauty is one of the faster things the brain recognises. Articulate men are reduced to whistling when faced with the sight of a beautiful woman for the brain recognises the paragon pulchritude much quicker than the vocabulary stores can be mobilised. Some recognise beauty much faster than danger. When walking the streets people have been known to walk into on-coming traffic while gazing at the majestic shape of a pretty girl strutting her stuff in a pair of tight blue jeans. The chances of being tall, with good skin, fine teeth, a pretty face and a fantastic figure is so slim that those in possession of these assets easily stand out. Relative scarcity increases value after all. However, there are so many things going on ‘behind the scenes’ in the people we call beautiful. What if the skin and muscles were see-through?  That will make it possible to walk down the street with visual access to beating hearts, expanding lungs and moving intestines. The definition of beauty changes doesn’t it? Imagine being at the beach with an exposed chest with everyone is eyeing up your beating heart and making remarks about your left ventricle. Or what if someone walks up to you and says ’you have a pretty liver’. Now that would be something! The body is really for functioning and not primarily to look at. Legs are for movement so anyone walking or running has beautiful legs. The bum is for sitting on, so any one who sits comfortably is sitting pretty. If it is fulfilling its primary function, then the body is being beautiful. The internal anatomical beauty of a well- functioning body is the epitome of comeliness.

Metabolic Beauty

The salt and water composition of the body in the right balance is needed for things to function well. So while we might take pride in framing pictures taken from our ‘good sides’ on the wall, framed medical reports that speak of a normal Liver function or Kidney function and Glucose level could likewise  be framed as reminders of physiological loveliness. Beauty in one department leads to beauty in other departments. I remember a friend who was so proud of their seminal analysis tests results (sperm count) that he wanted to use it as his Facebook profile picture.  We (committee of friends) had to beg the eccentric fellow to choose a normal photograph or selfie like everyone else. His argument was that his medical report was the ultimate selfie as it spoke of his internal ‘self’. I see his point however.( It is now common place to publish ultrasound scans of pregnant wombs on Facebook after all). He was proud of his numerous foot soldiers. This individual didn’t have the looks of Brad Pitt but he had something he felt willing to express about himself from the cyber rooftops.

Miscellaneous Beauty

I was speaking to a lady about what she found attractive in men and what factors would influence her decision to settle down with a particular suitor. I was half expecting the usually T.D&H (Tall dark and handsome) but was surprised when she started to reel out a list. Clean driving licence or a good explanation for any points on the licence (Motoring Beauty), healthy bank balance (Financial Beauty), intelligence and wisdom (Cerebral Beauty), no criminal record or time in prison (Forensic Beauty) and his mother must not be a witch ( Maternal  Spiritual Beauty).  It is the beholder that determines what beauty is to them.  Since tastes and preferences vary immensely there is a target market for every living soul. In the beauty display window, there is room for everybody.

Aerobic Beauty

Some beauty is appreciated mainly because the beholder knows how hard it is for the beauty to be developed and expressed. Works of art such as paintings and sculptures created by ‘the Masters’ are prime examples. For me however, marathon runners move with miraculous beauty. Running the marathon distance of 42.2 Km in just over two hours is indeed beauty in motion. I run marathons in thrice the amount of time.  I don’t particularly care what a face looks like if the lungs and mitochondria make it possible to run like the wind over a long distance.

True-Grit Beauty

I find it beautiful to see determination and tenacity in people who could easily be forgiven if they gave up. This is such an inspiring beauty of character that is able to bring tears to the eyes. The wheel chair race in the London Marathon really inspires. To see people with problems with their legs or spines committing to training and competing tells us all that human beings are beautiful

The Perceived Beauty Deficiency Epidemic

Everyone seems to have a strong need to project beauty. Many feel inadequate and lacking in beauty. The millions of plastic surgery operations each year attest to that fact. Some people feel unhappy if they cannot afford the operations on bodies destined to be on the menu of the cemetery earthworms in a few years. Vanity or vanities if you ask me.  Watching too many images on TV of ‘perfect bodies’ could be a cause for this. But are these air brushed  people on TV really perfect? Reality TV shows have writers and directors. Actresses have hand doubles, leg doubles, and chest doubles while actors have stunt men and doubles for many scenes. In the words of the song by Imagination called Illusion, the whole of show business is could be described as  ‘just an illusion’. Trying to model one’s life and looks on illusions is a mission impossible; a bridge too far.

The Solution

A mass media images detox is the way forward. Read no magazines, watch no films or TV and stick to the radio for three months. Spend time in nature. Spend hours watching the clouds, the ocean, the grass and the birds and spend very little time in front of the mirror. Listen to music but watch no music videos. Soon the in-built beauty thermostat will be reset and everybody becomes beautiful in our eyes, including you. You would have woken up your inner sleeping beauty.

Babawilly

Dr Wilson Orhiunu

8-8-14