Feel Good Answers
Today has proven to be a very interesting day. Not that anything in particular has happened. More that I have had a series of events where the sum total has come out to be different, interesting.
My roommate told me, about a week ago, about this girl who is a BYU student who is volunteering, at his work. Last week he said she was dressed in an outfit with her initials emblazoned on then; this week she was wearing clothing that expressed not only her hair color, but also her sexuality. I found the sight of her very interesting. She is a very attractive girl with a lot, in the looks department, going for her. However, speaking to her was entirely different.
Normally, when I stand next to someone, talk to them, I get a sense of who the person is and what they are trying to get out of life. I know, I know, that seems a little far fetched, but I get some sense of the person and maybe not what makes them special, but definitely that there is someone standing there. I didnt get that from this girl. The roommate tried to explain this to me last week and then suggested I come down to his school to experience her for myself.
As I stood there chatting with her she stood there with very good posture and was very nice to look at. Granted, were girls less than the sum total of all their parts, I think I could find myself interested in just looking at this girl; but I am not interested in just looking at someone, I want to talk to them, share ideas, or have ideas shared with me, and in the end, feel as though I can and am relating to someone on the other side of the conversation. That wasnt the case today.
Instead, I felt as though I was standing there listening to someone recite well-rehearsed words that were meant to impress just the right person in just the right way. Imagine watching a Ms. America pageant and listening to the contestant recite, over and over again, the platitudes that are meant to impress judges and elicit support.
World peace.
I mean, come on, watch Ms. Congeniality and listen to the things the contestants say to each other and the coaching that Sandra Bullocks character is given and then you might understand what is happening. The real difference isnt in the vacuous platitudes, but that the movie, Ms. Congeniality, makes the contestants appear to have more going for them than merely the pageant and winning.
There are many different documentaries that outline the world of beauty pageants. They show how shallow these girls, and women, can be; and moreover, there are comedies that make fun of the entire lifestyle. Beauty pageants have a tendency, and look, that makes one believe that beauty pageants hit their modernist age sometime in the 80s with the big hair, excessive make-up, and tacky smiles and never really figuring out that there is more to beauty and fashion than the 80's era in modern American history.
It is a little disturbing, then, to stand there talking to a girl who is wearing way too much make-up, is dressed as though she is trying to impress a panel of judges, and, in turn, has nothing of any concrete value to say (and all of it rehearsed), the sum total not equalling all of her parts; but rather, equally far less than you would expect from someone whod served an LDS church mission, worked on temple square, and been accepted into BYU (from personal experience this is not necessarily an easy thing).
What really disturbed me is that I can sense stupidity and she didnt even have that going for her. For her it is pop music with a Christian bent and influences ranging throughout the pop-tarts of the modern pop-music genre, and no real direction except to say that her music might help her achieve something where beauty school or becoming a dental hygienist is the normal way of life.
Dont get me wrong, she is a lovely girl that is just not for me. I want to be able to sit down with someone and talk to them, discuss things, you know, someone with a head on her shoulders, plans for the future, and who, as a choice and not out of consequence, wants to be a mother. In this case, and many others, I feel that it is consequence rather than choice that would put little miss sunshine in the station of mother and leave a career, education, or some form of advancement to someone else. These "consequences" lead to bad parenting.
Call me shallow, but I want someone who wants something out of life.