THERE are many who are not happy with our looks and here’s a true story related by someone who went in for surgery: ‘The plastic surgeon, a good fifteen years my senior, was a very attractive man. “Hmmm,” he said quietly. “Are you a model?” “Is he kidding?” I asked myself, “Anyone could see I was homely. After all, I had the scar to prove it.”
“The accident happened in fourth grade, when a neighbour boy picked up a hunk of concrete and heaved the mass through the side of my face. An emergency room doctor stitched together the shreds of skin, pulling cat-gut through the tattered outside of my face and then suturing the shards of flesh inside my mouth. For the rest of the year, a huge bandage from cheekbone to jaw covered the raised angry welt.”
“A few weeks after the accident, an eye exam revealed I was nearsighted. So above the ungainly bandage sat a big, thick pair of glasses. “Well,” sighed my father that evening, “you’ll always be pretty to me,” and he hesitated, “even if you aren’t to the rest of the world.” “Right.
Thanks. In a culture that values beauty, an ugly girl is an outcast. My looks caused me no end of pain. I sat in my room and sobbed every time my family watched a beauty pageant or a “talent” search show.” “And now, I was engaged to be married. The scar, shrunken and faded with age, stood between me and a new life. “Of course, I’m not a model,” I told the doctor with a small amount of indignation.
The plastic surgeon crossed his arms over his chest, “Then why are you concerned about this scar? If there is no professional reason to have it removed, what brought you here today? Let me tell you what I see. I see a beautiful woman.
Not a perfect woman, but a beautiful woman. Lauren Hutton has a gap between her front teeth. Elizabeth Taylor has a tiny, tiny scar on her forehead, every person has an imperfection, and that imperfection makes their beauty more remarkable because it makes them human!”
He pushed back the stool and stood up. “I won’t touch it. Don’t let anyone fool with your face. You are delightful just the way you are. Beauty really does come from within. Believe me.” Then he left. I turned to the face in the mirror. He was right. Somehow over the years, that ugly child had become a beautiful woman.
Since that day in his office, I have been told many times by people of both sexes that, “I am beautiful”. And, I know I am. When I changed how I saw myself, others were forced to change how they saw me. The doctor didn’t remove the scar on my face; he removed the scar in my heart..! Still unhappy with your looks?
