Only Skin Deep

Truth be told, I never understood the saying, 'Beauty Is Only Skin Deep'. On a literal level, it isn't even true. Do people truly find what comprises the human body ugly? Because I think it is a most beautiful thing. Gorgeous. Complex. And stunning.

When people think of our insides blood comes to mind. But when did blood become such an ugly thing? Is blood not life? Technically, living without it would be fairly difficult. Here are some red blood cells. Now, tell me they aren't eyeball pleasing:

Break down the body and what do you have? A heart that pumps blood to all the organs. Lungs that keep cells alive with oxygen while releasing carbon monoxide. Organs that work harmoniously together. The brain that has a unique synergy with the rest of the body. All of this action happens inside us, ever minute of every day, and we don't even think about it. We draw a breath. Our hearts beat. Limbs move. And all without a second thought, but apparently, this isn't beautiful?

I beg to differ, check out this Fallopian tube.

And, if we look past the literalness of the saying and only consider it figuratively, then the statement is still false. Some of our most beautiful parts are below our skin. Compassion, forgiveness, hope, trust, understanding, peace, faith and love - are these all not beautiful things that exist inside us? Beneath our skin? Are they not comprise a beautiful human being?

I suppose not. In a broad sense, when we think about beauty we think about the lushness of one's hair, wideness of the eyes, fullness of lips and smoothness of complexion. Weight, height, breast size - these also go into making someone attractive. At least in magazines and movies. Could you imagine how different the world would be if we only based beauty on a person's ideas, thoughts, morals, and actions?

Random acts of kindness would triple. Or quadruple. Magazines would run articles about how to achieve people's moral compass instead of their bouncy hair.

Or what if we based if off how healthy their organs were?

Everyone would stop smoking.

In the end, beauty isn't only skin deep. In fact, it's not until you go past the skin that you really start to see the real beauty of most people. At least, that's why people are beautiful to me, their likes and dislikes, hopes and dreams, ability to love. I love debunking silly sayings. But really, Dwight said it better: