This topic isn't easy for me. What is beauty? For me it is not what most people think it would be, like a model or an actor or maybe Miss World. Just the opposite. For me most of these "beautiful people" aren't beautiful, but boring and empty. I am often scared about the way young people perceive other people. They can describe a person only by very superficial and outwardly qualities. I am scared about how few they notice of a personality. And what many of them take for beauty looks in my eyes a lot like Barbie and Ken. And Barbie and Ken are in my eyes everything else, but not beautiful.
Barbie is handicapped: She has crippled feet and hands, a crippled lower body and an overdeveloped breast. This breast is so oversized that it causes severe back pain. Barbie has got a much too long neck and the worst of all: She suffers from microcephalia. Look, she hasn't got any space in her skull for a brain. There is only the forehead. The rest is severely underdeveloped and can fulfill only one purpose: holding the hair. Also her brain skull is crippled. Nobody has got such a small nose! So how can Barbie be beautiful and a role model for beauty!? Don't get me wrong, for me handicapped people can be very, very beautiful, but not Barbie. And it's the same with Ken. If this is the role model for women, I must say that this is a very sexist role model. No thank you! A lot of us women are different, thank goodness! And they are all much more beautiful than Barbie with their wrinkles, their birth marks, their extra fat on the hips, their cellulite...., because they are able and honest persons.
For me beauty is totatally different from mainstream. For me it comes from the soul and from experiences people made and how they coped with them. It comes from being grown up and maturing, it comes from being an honest person.
Here are people who are very, very beautiful to me:
Granny
Grandpa
Papa
For me the most beautiful picture of my father is this one, because it shows my father's soul. He is the small man on the left side. He was the boss of more than 1000 workers in a steel mill, but never was a cocky person but stayed the boy from the country with a deep understanding for the problems and needs of the workers who they committed to him. These men next to him are also beautiful to me. I know each of them, all honest and rooted to the soil. They became friends to us. This kind of working world is sadly gone long ago.
My dogs were all beautiful to me.
My parents - the last picture of them together. Beautiful.
Of course also things can be beautiful, but in a very different kind of meaning, when they are functional and esthetic at the same time or full of good memories. Nature is beautiful.
Well, I think I'm very sad today. I miss my father and I must stop now and do something different, painting another room, because I'm starting to cry and it hurts so badly, more than I can stand. Work always prevents me from thinking and remembering. So I'm working all the day. I think you got an idea now why I am working round the clock. I'm still grieving.
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I understand and feel your pain. You do what you need to do to get through the day.
And I agree . . . your family is absolutely beautiful!!
Posted by: ree | February 18, 2012 at 02:07 PM
Hugs, Ree. I know that I sometimes overdo with working and it's good havong some frineds like you and Lisa who sometimes say "no" or have good ideas.
Posted by: Surreal Georgia | February 19, 2012 at 08:27 AM
Georgia, I hope that you know that I am not discounting your grief nor your need for distractions from that grief. I completely understand the need for distractions (see:5dogs,3blogs,2photochallenges,etc). While it is sometimes easier to throw yourself into the "comfortable" routine of work, it is important to be kind to yourself once in a while, too. Celebrate and enjoy what you still have while you still can.
Thank you for sharing your beautiful family with us. Were all your dogs Dachshunds?
Posted by: Lisa | February 19, 2012 at 03:14 PM
Lisa, I know this very, very well and I like you very much. You can say everything to me, because I know that you give me good advices. I appreciate them very, very much. By the way: Your kick in my ass was excellent. It helped me to focus on the urgent thing (tax) and gave me some extra time for me that day. Thank you, Lisa. I tend to flee from things by working. And sometimes I need someone who says "stop" to me.
Yes, all my dogs were dachshunds. I miss them.
Posted by: Surreal Georgia | February 20, 2012 at 08:25 PM
Everybody in our family had Dachshunds when I was little - we had Duke, Grandma had Corky, Aunt Kay had Heidi. I remember them fondly. In fact, thanks to Corky, I had my first (and last) taste of dog food! My grandma fed him this food that looked like a raw hamburger patty and...well...my little kid curiosity got the better of me one day...Ick!
Once things settle down a bit in your world, perhaps it will be time for another puppy (or two or five...)!
I had to learn all that be kind to yourself stuff the hard way. I'm still not good at it and could stand to practice more of what I preach. But I'm glad that my advice helped you get some stuff done and have some fun. It gave me a kick in the ass too ;-)
Posted by: Lisa | February 22, 2012 at 01:01 PM
Thank you for this wonderful little Dachshund story, Lisa. I'm going to post a few things about my dachshunds the next days. Especially for you. And of course I will have another puppies, and more than one, this is sure. I love you for your kind and thoughtful words, Lisa. You are a wonderful woman and I have got a deep respect of what you had to go through. And you are still not done with this, you never will. I love the way how we can give each other some comfort or some kicks in the ass, we three of us. Neighbors inthe internet...
Posted by: Surreal Georgia | February 23, 2012 at 08:16 PM