[Letters] Rethinking beauty

Home > Opinion > Letters

print dictionary print

[Letters] Rethinking beauty

“Are you satisfied with the way you look?”

“Do you think physical appearance plays a significant role in your life?”

When these questions are being asked to people, most of them say that they don’t like the way they look and they feel physical appearance affects their life greatly.

In today’s world, people often give more importance to physical appearance — the way of dressing, looks, hairstyle, position, etc. — than inner appearance. Although old adages say that people should not be judged based on their looks, people have an instinctive tendency to judge others from their first impression, based particularly on external appearance. People hate to admit it, but reality has shown that appearance does matter a great deal.

People have to recognize how looks can be misleading at times. Some individuals may be more than what their appearance merely represents. Outer appearances may act as a mask in both positive and negative ways. One’s true inner self could be either over or under evaluated, so in order to get to know a person, people have to look for the true inner contents that are hidden behind the outer appearance.

Having beautiful and handsome appearances may be indicative of one’s self esteem and confidence. However, people should not put too much emphasis on looks. People must see the inner qualities of a person too. Inner appearance can include good nature, kindness, helpfulness, loyalty etc.

It is time to face the ugly truth and begin to change our mind-set. However, it is not fair enough to say that outward appearance is not important. Thus, we should all try improving not only our appearances but also the contents our character to brighten future.


Lee Na-yeon,

student at McMaster University in Canada
Log in to Twitter or Facebook account to connect
with the Korea JoongAng Daily
help-image Social comment?
s
lock icon

To write comments, please log in to one of the accounts.

Standards Board Policy (0/250자)