When I got ready to head out for the Peace Corps, I thought, ‘this’ll be great. I won’t have to worry about what I look like because I’ll be in some foreign village with no one (read: single guys) to impress.’ And it’s true that there is absolutely no other person here to get pretty for, but after months of not shaving my legs and a month of wearing the same pants, socks and rotated three shirts without doing laundry because our pipes are frozen, I realize I underestimated the value of feeling beautiful for yourself.
I think too often as a reaction to all that marketing junk, we go the other extreme and pretend beauty isn’t important at all and that enjoying it or trying to attain it is shallow. Beauty is valuable, otherwise we wouldn’t seek it out, whether it be in a person, a landscape, or a vase of flowers on the kitchen table. We pretend that looking like a grub is somehow noble but as I gaze at my hirsute stems I’m reminded of one of my favorite old movies, The Glass Slipper, starring Leslie Caron. As the title suggests, it’s a Cinderella movie. She’s a spunky precursor to the Cinderellas we find in modern films like Ever After and Ella Enchanted. At one point Ella defiantly tells her godmother “I don’t care what I look like,” to which her wizened godmother replies, “that’s no reason for frightening people.”
Yes, boob jobs are for boobs, but simple acts of choosing clothing that suits you and applying a swipe of mascara make a big difference both in the way other people perceive you (whether you like it or not) and more importantly, how you feel about yourself. I had an interview over the phone this morning for a job I really want. It’s to prepare students here for studying in American high schools for a year. Even though it was a phone interview, I still made sure I was in my work attire (even if it is jeans here) and wore make-up. I did it because it made me feel professional and I’m sure it came through in my voice. Now, if I get the job, will I think it due to making myself look good? Probably not. I’m highly qualified and a good interviewee. But I know it certainly didn’t hurt.