Ugly: The New Beautiful

It is hard to look beautiful and even harder to feel beautiful. Have you ever felt beautiful? I’m not talking about the cosmetic MAC beautiful nor the lingerie ads that tell you to feel beautiful inside. Dig in a little deeper. Yes, right in there. Where this beauty can’t just be captured by a selfie. That place. Have you ever been there? Or been there and tried to stay a little longer? Or never been there?

Still struggling to find your way through the surface with all those paints trying to hide eye bags and those spots? Trying on newer, prettier dresses and pumps? Earning those tiger stripes (stretch marks) by shedding unwanted pounds, toning up those curves or strengthening your biceps? Caught up in front of that reflective surface (mirror) which fails to reflect what’s inside? Too bad there’s no mirror to view that beauty inside. But there’s one in all. The mind’s eye.

It captures all the wonderful scenes. It reads what’s between the lines and tries to (if allowed by you) figure what’s so good about some things. It needs no concealer to hide the imperfections. In fact the imperfections are the most beautiful to it. For they are raw. Raw is rare. It doesn’t see fat, skin, black, white, or brown. It doesn’t see distorted. It doesn’t use tags such as “sexy,” “hot,” or “pretty” for girls…or “charming” and “cute” for guys.

The weather, words, or quotes could be sexy. A heartfelt smile could be pretty. Nonsense and fantasy could be distracting. Beats of a classic song could be hot. The bond between a panic-stricken lost kid looking for his elder sibling could be beautiful. The secretive yearning for success for someone you adore or love could be beautiful. A dream could be beautiful. Forgiving people who you know will still be incorrigible in the years to come could be beautiful. Thanking God or the superpower you believe in for no reason or for all the reasons you have could be beautiful. Consoling a sad friend and cheering the person up for whatever s/he is could feel beautiful. A bald girl who fought cancer and is feeling lucky to be alive and still loved is beautiful. Watching down a hungry stray animal gorge all the food you kept near it is beautiful. Try passing a smile to your domestic help or maybe make a compliment that you mean. That could feel beautiful. How beautiful it is to inspire someone, loving what you fear, handling failures gracefully, or making someone feel good about themselves.

Feeling happy and elated could be beautiful. There’s more to being ugly than just bad hair days, puffy eyes, acne, glasses, metal mouth, inflated waistlines, heartbreaks, or failures. Not being you is what makes you ugly. Not being Be-YOU-tiful.