One of the most successful, influential and beloved women in American history, EleanlorRoosevelt once said that she had one regret: she wished she had been prettier. Who hasn't feltthe same way? We are all too aware of our physical imperfections. To overcone them, we spendbillions of dollars every year-- on comestics, diet products, fashion and plastic surgery.
Why do we care so much about how we look? Because it matters. Because beauty is powerful. Because even when we learn to value people mostly for being kind and wise and funny, we arestill moved by beauty. No matter how much we argue against it or pretend to be immune, beauty exerts its power over us. There is simply no escape.
Aristotle said,"Beauty is a greater recommendation than any letter of introdution." It's notfair, but it's true. We simply treat beautiful people better than we do others. Attach aphotograph of a beautiful author to an essay, and people will think that it is more creative andmore intelligently written than exactly the same essay accompanied by the photo of a homelyauthor.
Our sensitivity to Physical beauty is not something we can control at will. We are born with it. Experiments conducted by psychologist Judith J. Langloisshowed that even small infantsprefer to look at attractive faces. Before they have met a single supermodel, before they havewatched a single TV show, before they have opened up a single fashion magazine, they aredrawn to the same faces which adults have judged to be attractive.
There are more important things in life than beauty. But as Nancy Etcoff says,"We have tounderstand beauty, or we will always be enslaved by it." if you aim to be wise and kind andfunny, it doesn't mean that you can't also try your best to look beautidul. There's no reason tofeel guilty about being moved by beauty's power. It moves us all.
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