Highlights of Life

I had the misfortune of flipping the tv channel to the Oh! Oxygen Network, where a show called, “Drastic Plastic Surgery” happened to be on.  Mesmerized, I couldn’t tear my eyes from the screen as I watched women (and a few men) undergo the surgical knife.  It was gruesome, it was uncalled for, and it was incredibly bloody.  It was like watching a car accident in slow motion.  Rhinoplasty, breast augmentation, and even liposuction.

People whose very identity and insecurities are wrapped up in their outward appearance such that they felt compelled to put good money into reshaping their face and body.  General anesthesia, bruising, broken bones, and pain.  The only question that remained in my mind as I watched in horror as the surgeon chip away at the nose, or stab the abdomen with a long poker like apparatus was, “why?!”

What would compel someone to undergo such horrible pain in the name of so-called “beauty”?  The funny thing is, these very people, post-operatively looked at themselves critically in the mirror, and said something akin to the following:

waist liposuction lady:  I think now my hips and thighs look too big for my waist… I’ll have to go in for liposuction and reshaping of my hips now

breast augmentation lady:  hmmm… this is my 2nd breast augmentation.  The first one, my breasts were not too full at the top and too wide apart

rhinoplasty & chin-o-plasty & cheek fat removal lady:  my lips looked too short now that my cheek bones  look a little higher and my nose is shorter.  I’m now going in today to get lip injections done to make them look fuller. 

 It seems like these individuals are on this never ending quest to look perfect.  Apparently they haven’t heard of the saying, “beauty is in the eye of the beholder”?  And ironic part is, all these people look fairly normal and some are fairly easy on the eyes.  They have no hidious deformities, nor any major reason to undergo the knife.  Perhaps criticism is also in the eye of the beholder as well.

Apparently South Koreans have the highest percentage of plastic surgery when compared to the rest of the world.  Incredible really given that it wasn’t too long ago that Korea used to be a developing country and is the size of a pea compared to places such as North America.  Whatever happened with being pleased with what God has given you?  This incredible drive to look a certain way on the outside….is baffling to say the least.

I remember how one day I was in the middle of a women’s group bible study.  And as we started sharing our stories about how God had affected our lives, I realized how each and every woman was so unique and beautiful (inside and outside).  It was a natural kind of beauty that kind of shone from the inside… the loveliness of the spirit I guess.  This special animation of life that can come from true joy.

It’s so sad that these girls/women on the show feel the need to undergo so much pain to seek “happiness, satisfaction and contentment” through their outward image.