Little Miss Sunshine

Image by carbonated via Flickr

Beauty isn't skin deep. I think we can all say we learned this lesson as young kids. Beauty is what is on the inside, not the outside that counts, right? I have a sister, a sister who is somewhat of a beauty queen. Don't get me wrong, she deserves it, but as a guy, I have had to sit through way too many beauty pageants and cheer competitions to be considered healthy for a man. Shamefully, I know the majority of cheers for the Gateway Christian Warriors and far too many fashion points for pageants.

With the advent of these beauty contests came the advent of the loss of male dominance in society. No, I'm not sexist. However, these pageants have recently drawn a crowd not looking at just physical beauty but brains as well! "Really?" you ask. No, not really. Most beauty pageants are sad displays of intelligence gone wrong and a blatant exploitation of the body to promote success. Could you image if men did this? That's like men playing football in dresses! Lord, I pray that day never comes. It's just not natural. In recent years, the beauty pageant has been portrayed in films like Little Miss Sunshine and the national broadcast of the Miss America awards. These media outlets have fueled the fire of beauty contests across the country like the death of Michael Jackson has fueled band wagons and bad plastic surgery.

I have witnessed this spectacle of beauty firsthand. Men, it's not all what it's cracked up to be. While beautiful women may abound, their lack of intelligence sucks most of the quality out of the air as you are subjected to two hours of "dancing" (more like flailing) and "speaking" (more like rambling). The questions are absurd and the answers are even worse. The whole business is rather dreadful and for a guy, it's utter torture. Obviously, I hate pageants. That is until my sister entered Miss Roswell. I sat through a series of awful performances which were called "interpretive dance" (I think they called it "interpretive" because I needed an interpreter there to tell me what the heck I was watching) as I awaited my dear sister's performance. While most of the contestants wore skimpy designer dresses or revealing outfits, my dear sister trotted on stage wearing a fat suit, a geriatric bathing suit, and a sunhat. She looked like the Angela Lansbury in a Victoria Secret magazine (see picture- Heather, you are much more beautiful than that!). She did a comedy routine about picking out swimsuits and the pain for women thereof and made the audience laugh and smile. She didn't have to look "sexy" or "stunning," she just looked comfortable as she was. I admire her extremely for stuff like this. I think they picked the right Miss Roswell, in my opinion that is!

Moral of the story is that beauty isn't the skin deep pleasures all around us, but it is truly how we have been taught- in the heart of the matter. I'm here to push that one step further, though. Beauty is in everybody, each person contributing to a little more beauty in this world. The truth is, beauty undergoes the same painful moments we all face. Beauty can sometimes feel ugly. I have seen great people this week, both man and woman, who are beautiful in their own facet of society yet feel bombarded by pain and misery. They feel hurt and alone- keep in mind this is the beautiful we are talking about here. Some are beautiful in the way they love others, some are beautiful in the way they encourage, and others are beautiful in believing in people, yet all will feel the pangs of life at one point. So I'm calling all of us muddy people to wipe each other off this week. Forgive, encourage, and uplift because we all need a little selflessness every once and a while. Those who feel ugly, give them assurance. Those who are stressed, give them relaxation. Those who are in pain, give them comfort.

So here's to putting a mirror in the hand of the beautiful and telling them they are loved. Here's to looking at a fat suit and seeing a crown. Here's to being a Little Miss Sunshine of our own.

KB

P.S. Football rocks, as do guns, the military, large explosions, and iron. Sorry, had to add something manly to even out the estrogen.