What's in a face?

We've all heard about remarks about beauty being superficial and shallow. We all have declared our two cents over the matter and perhaps, at one time or another have said that it's what's inside that counts. I'm sure there will be some that'll say that looks do matter but only to an extent.

If given a chance to pick between a beautiful face and a good character, I'm sure a majority of us would pick the latter but it would be highly hypocritical of us to deny that at some brief nano-second we did not entertain a thought about the beautiful face. We have, and the fact is, we always will.

When we begin to consider a person to be beautiful, we never miss to scrutinize the face. What is it about a face? A woman can have the most alluring body but if she doesn't have a beautiful face, then she just couldn't be considered beautiful. She can be sexy, but not beautiful. However, a woman can be fat (fat by definition as fat and not obese to the point of a bloated face) but still be considered as pretty if not beautiful if she's got a face that's pleasing to the eyes. She might be fat but nonetheless, she's beautiful. What is it in a face?

Beauty is important. If it isn't, then why do we have songs about bewitched individuals serenading someone who's beauty stole their hearts? Why do we have songs having lines, "..If a face can launch a thousand ships.." hitting our charts? I'm not saying that "inner beauty" isn't important. It is but it just happens that I'm talking about the kind of beauty we get to probably rub elbows with when we walk in the streets. Unless you can walk up to a total stranger standing in a street corner and say earnestly, "You have a beautiful inner self." you better shut up.

What's in a face? If face isn't important, then we wouldn't be having expressions like, "Saving face" or "face of the company". If facial beauty isn't all that important, then why do all these make-up companies earn billions every year despite the fact that there are so much competition out there about similar products being endorsed in the market? Why do ladies take pain in applying intricately (the outcome, depending upon the person may result to a stunning advantage or a horrendous monstrosity) make-up layers upon layers, hues upon hues. Some even go to the extent of having surgical alterations. And it's not just the women. The men take pride about their facial appearances as well. In fact, they can be as vain as the women. If they're not, then surgical operations about receding hairlines wouldn't be popular.

I believe people are generally and naturally vain and superficial creatures. Of all the parts in our body, we take pride most in our head/face. When in danger, the instinctive reaction would be to cover our head/face.  We take pictures of our faces the most (given that there are people who take pictures of other various parts of their body). We identify people with their faces. We know how a person is through the reactions we can see in his/her face. Even when selecting our peers, we tend to look for those that's pleasing and are easy on the eyes. In a room full of strange faces, we always search for those that appeal to us most.  Almost every time, goodness is always paired with a beautiful face to go with.

Ever notice how in the movies, they always cast the heroine to be more beautiful than the villain? Ever thought about why the princesses in the fairy tales were always described to be of surpassing beauty? Sure, there have been movies where the lead star started out to be less than comely (Ugly Betty - enough said) but the theme's goal is still toward beauty or becoming beautiful. It's an artistic set-up of how an ugly duckling battles through discrimination and morphs into a beautiful swan that sets everyone to stagger aback and soak in the new astounding beauty.

We are all hopelessly addicted to beauty and there's nothing wrong with that. We are all in our own ways, narcissists. I dare you to break every mirror that you own if you beg to disagree. That's why in the advent of all these networking sites where we get to create our virtual images we call profiles, we post pictures of us that are nothing but flattering (though some may reason that some people post rather horrific pictures of themselves, this is because not all of us have the same opinion as to what real beauty is).

In our constant strive for perfection, it is a dismay to say that we have but misguided affections and twisted definitions of as to what beauty should be. (These days, beauty is in fashion. If it's in, then it's beautiful. But what about the different ones? Those brave individuals who could never conform to the fad just because the media dictates it should be? - that is however straying away from my intended topic so let's go back, shall we?) Far too often (and especially in women) we love to fuss about how we look and spend dismal amount of times contemplating why we don't/can't look like this or that. Then after years, when our face is all wrinkled and dried up, we stare at ourselves and think, "If only I was young again."

Too often we focus on how our faces look or how other people's faces look that we forget that there's more to people than meets the eye (although we should acknowledge the fact that there are, unfortunately, bimbos living among us all who were gifted with the looks but a rather gracious amount of space inside the head where possibly, a peanut resides). We all know that skin-deep beauty fades with time but an impeccable character is rather timeless but still, we all cannot help but channel our admiration towards what is pleasing to our eyes.

What is in a face?