Glad You Aren't Beautiful
Now for a more serious blog entry.
I would like to share a nugget of wisdom my mother shared with my sister and I. Now, so that you understand, my parent’s nuggets of wisdom are not normal nuggets like “Be nice to all the children.” or “Always brush your teeth.” They normally had a slightly harsher package such as “When you fall, put your hands down; did you think your face would catch you?” and “When you run off from your mother like that you are going to fall down an escalator. Quit crying.”
Now before you think my parents were unloving ogres who got pleasure out of their children’s pain, let me assure you they were not. I don’t know of any parents that were more loving than mine. They were just in favor of tough-love – it built character.
Anyway, this particular nugget was given to me when I was in Jr. High and my sister was in 5, or 6th grade. My mom comes in our room, sits down on the bed and says,
“I’m glad you two girls aren’t beautiful.”
Since that was a logical way to start a conversation, I responded with,
“WHAT!!!”
“You know, you girls aren’t drop-dead gorgeous.”
“Thanks Mom, I was hoping you would come in here and tell us we are ugly.”
“Oh I don’t think you girls are ugly, you just aren’t gorgeous. You’re pretty, just not gorgeous.”
Sarah jumps in now with, “Mom is there a point to this?”
“Yes, see since you girls aren’t beautiful, things in life won’t just be handed to you based on your looks. You’ll have to work for the things you get in life.”
Great, no free rides for us, we were just promised a life of hard work. I was feeling pretty happy about my life at this point. But my Mom wasn’t finished.
“And by working hard,” She continued, “You will appreciate the things you do get more. It will make you both better women. So be glad you aren’t beautiful.”
At this point the conversation was pretty much over, and I think Sarah and I learned a valuable lesson that day. For even though my Mom had an interesting way of sharing that with us, I must say she is right. I see people who do have things given to them because of looks, or talent, or money or whatever. Normally they are very shallow people – because hard work has not dug any depth into their soul. So yeah, I think that in the long run, average looking people do have it better off.
I would like to share a nugget of wisdom my mother shared with my sister and I. Now, so that you understand, my parent’s nuggets of wisdom are not normal nuggets like “Be nice to all the children.” or “Always brush your teeth.” They normally had a slightly harsher package such as “When you fall, put your hands down; did you think your face would catch you?” and “When you run off from your mother like that you are going to fall down an escalator. Quit crying.”
Now before you think my parents were unloving ogres who got pleasure out of their children’s pain, let me assure you they were not. I don’t know of any parents that were more loving than mine. They were just in favor of tough-love – it built character.
Anyway, this particular nugget was given to me when I was in Jr. High and my sister was in 5, or 6th grade. My mom comes in our room, sits down on the bed and says,
“I’m glad you two girls aren’t beautiful.”
Since that was a logical way to start a conversation, I responded with,
“WHAT!!!”
“You know, you girls aren’t drop-dead gorgeous.”
“Thanks Mom, I was hoping you would come in here and tell us we are ugly.”
“Oh I don’t think you girls are ugly, you just aren’t gorgeous. You’re pretty, just not gorgeous.”
Sarah jumps in now with, “Mom is there a point to this?”
“Yes, see since you girls aren’t beautiful, things in life won’t just be handed to you based on your looks. You’ll have to work for the things you get in life.”
Great, no free rides for us, we were just promised a life of hard work. I was feeling pretty happy about my life at this point. But my Mom wasn’t finished.
“And by working hard,” She continued, “You will appreciate the things you do get more. It will make you both better women. So be glad you aren’t beautiful.”
At this point the conversation was pretty much over, and I think Sarah and I learned a valuable lesson that day. For even though my Mom had an interesting way of sharing that with us, I must say she is right. I see people who do have things given to them because of looks, or talent, or money or whatever. Normally they are very shallow people – because hard work has not dug any depth into their soul. So yeah, I think that in the long run, average looking people do have it better off.
posted by Andi at
4:59 PM
