GE1

1. How do you personally define beauty?

I’d like to think of beauty as fleeting because I believe that the first stage of love
is through lust which coincides with beauty. However, there are deeper kinds of affection
than that. I also define beauty as something that has no standards because beauty for
me might not be the same as others. I may find something or someone beautiful but
others may not. With all honesty, upon hearing the word beauty I would think of it as
attractiveness. Not totally physically but other internal and external factors. Personally, I
get more attracted to someone who is neat and intelligent. My conscious mind would
immediately label something as beautiful when I see them being smart and charismatic.
I have an attraction to the intelligence of others, especially when one speaks with
wisdom and maturity. However, if we talk about beauty in a deeper meaning with
long-term impression then I would say that it is when somebody shows respect to his
family most especially to God. Having the Holy Spirit working in somebody’s soul is
more beautiful than any positive adjectives I could think of.

2. Do you think you are beautiful? What are your bases why you consider
yourself as beautiful? (Beauty doesn't limit to women but to men as well.
Beautiful = Handsome)

As much as I want to say and believe that I am beautiful and how others
convince me that I am, there are still factors that make me feel like I’m not. There are
days where I feel beautiful and grateful and there are times where I feel so ugly and
disgusting. However, I know that self love and appreciation is helpful which is why I try
my best to look at myself and believe that I am beautiful. If talking about some reasons I
consider when labelling myself as beautiful, it is when I achieved something good that
made myself proud. I think my attraction to intelligence relates to this because I feel
most beautiful when I make myself proud, especially in academics. And at times where I
need to convince myself that I am beautiful, I apply the belief that charm is deceptive
and beauty fades but a woman who fears the Lord is to be praised. So, I may feel ugly
on the outside and even inside but I am comforted by God’s word that there’s no need
to feel that way because the important thing is that I devote myself to him and that is
attractive.

3. How important is physical beauty to you?

Physical beauty is how you project yourself to others, there is no need to be too
much when expressing yourself externally but I think it is important to make yourself
presentable to others where it reflects a person who is respectable. If you have the
ability to be well dressed, not in the form of wearing luxury clothes, but being neat then
that would be greatly appreciated. The problem here is that society raised a standard
that physical appearance is a basis for acceptance in the society which is unfair.
Physical beauty should be something that is appreciated but not in a way where others
are degraded. The importance of physical beauty is not more than but is equal to the
importance of having the right attitude and manner. Everyone can be beautiful but
others have their own opinions about beauty but it is not the person, who failed to pass
their standards, to be blamed for but the society who made physical beauty as a form of
insult.