Beauty

1 Samuel 16:7

But ADONAI said to Sh'mu'el, "Don't pay attention to how he looks or how tall he is, because I have rejected him. ADONAI doesn't see the way humans see - humans look at the outward appearance, but ADONAI looks at the heart."

I came across this in my InterPersonal Communications class and I know its an issue that everyone deals with in one area or the other so I thought I'd share it.

We were discussing our culture and the image that it gives us at such a young age.

This one is more about race, but nevertheless, the beauty and to what extent people will go to gain an image that they see as "beautiful" based on our society. Towards the end they show how even little kids have been taught the same image, the last girl in the doll test was just so sad :(

http://www.understandingrace.org/lived/video/index.html

Ah, this one makes me laugh. I used to think that it was normal to look like Barbie and that women who didn't were messed up and that men just HAD to look like GI Joe's.

http://www.johnriviello.com/bodyimage/dolls.html

And last but not least, where do these images of beauty come from? Mostly in advertisement. Here's one by dove . . . I used to say "Why don't I look like that?" well, because no one does - not even the model you're looking at.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iYhCn0jf46U

I'm not the type that usually posts stuff like this, but it made me a little sad how our culture is. For so much of my life I went through the I'm-not-pretty stage and was simply never happy with myself. I eventually realized that beauty is shallow and that I had better things to worry about - I stopped wearing makeup completely, stopped curling and straightening my hair and just let it fall into my natural wave. I still continue that for the most part and I'm happy and content knowing that I'm beautiful on the outside (here comes the cheesy part) and because of HaShem - my spirit is beautiful too.

Proverbs 31:30

Charm can lie, beauty can vanish, but a woman who fears ADONAI should be praised.