don's report archive

by Donald B. Ardell, Ph. D.

Wellness in the Headlines
(Don's Report to the World)

Appearances are deceptive warned Aesop (The Wolf in Sheep's Clothing), who, around 500 BC, also noted that it is not only fine feathers that make fine birds (The Jay and the Peacock). Is appearance as important to those who pursue healthy lifestyles and the fine art of self-management as to those who do not, and should it? Is there a good case to be made for the idea that concerns about beauty, style, and looks are silly diversions unworthy of the attention or concern of those who pursue the high art of lifestyle excellence? Do you think the whole idea of beauty plays a proportionate role in your thinking about other people? If there were a wellness revolution of sorts in this country, would it have any effect on the way most of us think and feel about appearances, and would the changes, if any, be for better or worse?

My first response is I have no idea! My second is, "How might Voltaire respond to such questions?" Voltaire might say, "Ask a toad what is beauty. . .he will answer that it is a female with two great round eyes coming out of her little head, a large, flat mouth, a yellow belly, and a brown back." My third response is I still have no idea.

What Voltaire was telling us, I think, is that beauty is in the eye of you-know-who, namely, the beholder. It's all very subjective. It depends. Ask a hippo, a croc, and a butterfly (assuming you could figure out how to put such a question in hippo, croc, or butterfly language) and you would surely get three very different responses. As for humans, beauty is not only in the eye of the beholder, it resides as well in our deepest cultural imprinting and shallowest recent peer pressures and stereotypes.

All that said, let me take a stab at my own questions on the importance of appearance to those with a great knowledge of, interest in, and commitment to self-management! How important is it? Very important. How important should it be, given some undefined but presumably positive and healthful wellness value system? Less so than it is today.

We could comfortably invest a lot more attention in these kinds of issues without qualms if we gave equal or better yet, greater attention to qualities such as character, noble purposes, and agreed upon values. Agreements on the latter may be a little difficult these days, but we should give it a try, just the same. To start things off, I recommend we have a national poll to see how many citizens still agree that personal responsibility is a value at or near the top of any such list.

Today, beauty may be only skin deep, but that seems plenty deep enough for some. But, I won't mention any names, since I probably have a lot of work to do myself in the areas of character, purposes, and values -- for starters. I asked one of my exercise science advisors named Wendy Shore about this. She said, perhaps beauty should be MORE sought after -- beauty such as clear eyes and toned muscles that can only be had by living a wellness lifestyle -- not the drug-addicted wraith-like stuff we see in magazines. If people took responsibility for being beautiful, rather than trying to give that responsibility to drugs and plastic surgeons, the world would be a better -- and more beautiful place. And after all -- beauty is...beautiful.

So, to recap all this business about appearance, beauty, and wellness, and to stake out a position on the matter, I have to conclude, as something of a beautiful person myself, that the matter probably needs more study.

What do you think?

(Note: This essay will be filed in the archives in the PHYSICAL DOMAIN under the skill area of appearance and aging. Additional articles related to this theme may be found there.)

(Ed. Note: Views expressed in this and other columns are those of the author and not necessarily those of the SeekWellness Editorial Board.)

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