American Beauty

Ok, so maybe today is the day for irritated posts.

I don't have to read the caption for this picture. I know who all of these women are. And I remember quite clearly when Christy Brinkley was Jennifer Aniston's age. I remember when folks believed she didn't need air-brushing in order to be The Covergirl.

I know that if I were completely ignorant of those three faces, I would assume they were all about the same age. And that really disturbs me. It should disturb us all. There's no mystery as to where our eating disorders and penchants for plastic surgery and liposuction originate, and these women feel it, or will at some point feel it, keenly. They're America's sweethearts, and we all expect them to be thin, beautiful, unwrinkled, ungreyed, so that we know it's possible, and we have an icon toward which to strive.

There are so many virtues which are more worthy of our attention, and there is so much more to our persons than our shape, our hair color, or the firmness of our biceps.

A really interesting article, which I picked up on bloglines from my sister-in-law's post today, can be found here. We--perhaps I should be honest and say "I", because I don't know many people who struggle more with body image than I do--have got to find the proper context and importance of physical beauty.