Appearance isn’t everything, but it is certainly what we focus on during festive and party seasons, like carnival.
It would seem that carnival and all related activities are stages for the ‘beautiful people’, and those who enjoy celebrating them. The makeup, costumes, and parties, have long gone beyond the celebration of an island’s culture, perhaps even, into the realms of heathenism.
That analysis would be for a whole different show.
With that said, let’s go back to the topic of appearances. Generally, it is true that we cannot always control the way we look, or even how we come across to others. This begins with the way we look… our natural features that we were born with, and extends all the way to how we appear based on our circumstances. If we’re sad we’ll look a particular way, if we’re angry our faces are likely to reflect that, and if we’re sick… in some cases we may not appear that way, but our mood might communicate to others that something isn’t quite right. Some people are better at hiding these things than others, and you may never know… but the point of all this is that we do not always have control over the way we look.
Even though we do not have control over the way we appear all the time, we are judged based on it. If we lose weight or gain weight, people comment on it. This aspect of our appearance in particular sometimes seems directly related to our happiness, or worth as human beings.
As far as the things that should really matter, we have deviated far from the course, particularly considering that most of us were taught from the same text book of Life, that we should not judge a book by its cover. Yet, we scarcely ever look past the cover before we rush to our own pronouncements.
Appearance shouldn’t be everything; content of character should be. Yet it isn’t always. If anything at all is taken from this, let it be that looking great, or being ideal according to other people’s specifications is not the price we pay to exist in this world. Even in a season of glamour and fetes, let us remember that it is more important to be accepting of others, understanding of the situations they might be facing, and overall, just considerate and compassionate human beings.