I'm not going to claim expertise on the American labour market...
But I wrote yesterday that if you don't think you were born symmetrical, harmonious and objectively aesthetically beautiful, you could start by working with what you have, and I can see from comments here and there that this was read as if I and others meant you should buy yourself a new face.
That's not what I meant.
I meant something far more boring.
Because what Man has sorted by for thousands of years, long before anyone invented the word "privilege", is not beauty in the sense you find it on a magazine cover.
It's HEALTH.
It's signs that there is order in the house you're looking at. Clear skin and clear eyes, because it tells of sleep and diet and a body that is not at war with itself.
An upright posture, because it tells that you are not afraid.
A face that is neither swollen nor gaunt, because both tell that something is out of balance.
Hair that is cared for.
Teeth that are brushed.
A body that is used for something, so you can see it is used for something.
Clothes that are clean and fit as they should, because it tells that you looked at yourself in the mirror before you walked out the door, and that what you saw was someone you wanted to show.
And then what weighs heaviest of all, and which doesn't cost a single krone -
An open face. A smile that reaches the eyes. The ability to look another human being in the eye and hold the gaze a second longer than is comfortable. Not backing down from presence and curiosity. Language that doesn't swarm with apologies. Humour. Calm. That you listen when others speak.
It's not appearance in the strict sense, but it's what "the pretty ones" get credit for, and it's what ANYONE CAN ACQUIRE, because it's BEHAVIOUR, and behaviour can be PRACTISED.
It's not a secret. It's not even new. Any grandmother in any culture on earth could have reeled it off, and most of them did. With seriousness in their voice if they sensed the grandchildren were going astray.
BECAUSE THEY KNEW WHAT IT RISKED COSTING THEM if they didn't get it sorted. Women as well as men.
Notice then what happens when you instead try to skip over, excuse yourself, take the easy way or blame others and cover every single square centimetre of yourself in neon-coloured ink.
You haven't changed your appearance. You've painted over the signals every human being is built to read, and replaced them with one single new signal that says - I have chosen to stand outside what you can recognise. And when the world then responds by keeping its distance, you call it discrimination, and blame a president, a boss, a teacher, a parent or even God.
And I am, as anyone can see from half-dressed summer pictures of me, not exempt from having wandered confusedly into that idea.
That's why I know it.
It's the same movement as yesterday. You reject the pattern Man is built by, you feel the consequence, and then you call the consequence an "oppressive structure".
The Old Ones knew it.
And it's time we remember it.
And say it out loud.
You cannot negotiate with nature. You can cooperate with it, or you can ignore it, and it takes its payment either way.
It doesn't take a new face to be seen. It takes stopping hiding the one you have.
❤️🔥🪽
