Beauty and the Beast

Saturday morning I went to the health club. Maybe it's vanity that pushes me to exercise as diligently as I do, but I prefer to think it's my desire for good health and to have extra energy for my family. Probably both. So I was climbing away on the stair-master listening to Rilo Kiley, and glancing up at the six television screens which were operating simultaneously. Televisions number two and three were showing college football. And I don't know anyone who doesn't love college football. Anyone! Big Ten, Pac Ten, Hang Ten; it doesn't matter. It is the glue that binds humanity (United States humanity) together! Television number five was showing cooking because what do we love more than football? We love food. Television number six was showing women's golf; probably the most under-appreciated sport ever! (Can you tell I'm being dramatic and emphatic today? It's a rainy! Monday morning baby, and I've got something to say). But sandwiching the football are TVs number one and four, airing respectively, Combat Hospital (a reality show in Iraq) and Dr. 90210 (a reality show in Beverly Hills). Two football fields and a gazillion light-years away from each other in terms of "reality". At one point there was a women lying on an operating table on TV 1. She was filled with shrapnel from a roadside bomb. TV 4, at the exact same moment, had a woman on the operating table getting balls of silicone goo squeezed into her body through her dissected nipple. I had to look at the food network for a bit; the juxtaposition just a little too great.

The same morning I watched an online video from Dove's self-esteem campaign called "Onslaught" (check out the link at http://www.campaignforrealbeauty.com/home.asp) about the media messages young girls receive regarding their bodies and cultural standards of beauty. A few hours later I'm watching a young woman; an "actress" ask Dr. 90210 for bigger implants, but "no scars because she has to be on camera in a couple of weeks". Hmmmm. I wonder what the shrapnel girl's body image is like. She probably thought her butt was kind of big. Until it got blown off.

I watch my daughter and I see how confident and beautiful she is. I don't know if she'll run for president or cheer-lead for football or join the army. She can do anything she wants but my wish for her is that she will love herself and be proud of her inner and outer beauty.
And maybe that she'll learn to play golf.