Sad but true

This news has actually made me very sad. Once again, image wins over substance.

In the movie The Mirror Has Two Faces, Rose Morgan is a literature professor who has never liked her looks. Rose has a beautiful mother, a gorgeous sister and a handsome husband who married her specifically because he is not sexually attracted to her (the reason given is somewhat hard to believe). At one point in the movie Rose asks her mother what it felt like to be admired for her beauty. Her mother hesitates, but then admits - "it was wonderful".

Rose is played by Barbra Streisand, a woman who may not be beautiful in a classic sense, but is extremely talented and successful because she worked hard and made the most of the gifts she was given. Those gifts include one of the most wonderful voices the world has ever known, which could have been ruined if she had succumbed to a common beautifying tactic - a nose job.

Today more than ever, in too many aspects of our culture, beauty is of the highest value - more important than talent or intelligence or personality. I wish I had the strength of character to say with certainty that I would rather be who I am - a woman who might be thought of as beautiful but only after you get to know me - than someone who the world knows is beautiful. But some days I just don't know.

Some days I really want to know what it's like on the other side.