Was watching the women's talkshow on channel dunno what just now. they were talking about beauty and whether it's important for women to be beautiful by nature. Actually, coming from a personal and a psychological point of view, i think if you're born with external beauty, it does enable you to have much more advantages in the world than if you're not.
life's quite unfair ah?:)
I actually quite dislike people who keep harping on this topic =) i'm alright with people who have a healthy appreciation of the beauty that God has created and placed around us and comments on that (e.g. commenting (purely commenting) that some people are quite pretty blah blah.. some are not as good looking) but if that person keeps on criticizing another person based on the outward appearance and judging (e.g. i think she's ugly), i'll be quite pissed off with that person.
possibly 'cos i know people who can be quite pretty and seemingly nice on the outside but damn awful (i apologize for any stumbling due to use of words) and bitchy (meaning spiteful and malicious) on the inside (and you can't do anything about it 'cos people who've only encountered the person once or twice thinks she's nice). possibly also 'cos i've seen how girls got affected by the comments of some thoughtless people (usually guys. sorry to guys who don't do that) out there. possibly 'cos i studied about eating disorders and how image can affect a girl's self esteem very much.
sometimes when i hear comments putting a girl/sister down, i have a strong desire (due to my sinful nature) to retort back with a comment asking the person to take a look in the mirror as well :P of course, a nicer way of putting it will be to ask the person to think about it in the shoes of the person :) or to put themselves in a scenario when the person being criticized is someone the person loves :)
of course, i've also seen how certain people use their beauty to manipulate the people (especially guys' feelings) and i think it's awful as well. sigh.
actually, i don't think i've seen any sisters who're not beautiful (the general beauty including demeanor, outward and inward beauty), just that their hidden potential have not been discovered yet:) like what robert said (and what huang su fang said), it's just that sometimes the guys don't know how to appreciate. the question lies in whether a person can glimpse at the hidden potential within that person, craft it and help to bring it out.
kind of like shepherding ah?:)