Beauty is the Eye of the Beholder! - Sincerity.

Hi there! Did you enjoy your day so far?
Over here in The Wetlands there is a storm blowing... It is beautiful, in a way, but it's a dangerous beauty.
When I walked Gina I saw quite a few trees that had been blown over, due to their crowns being too heavy from the tons of rain we've had all day yesterday.

Today I want to write to you about beauty. And it ties into the 18 Ities I have been writing about for the last couple of weeks. The 4th Ity is Sincerity. And I happen to believe that beauty and sincerity in humans are linked very closely together.
To be sincere, is to be real, and to be true to yourself. And sincere people have a certain glow, an outer aura that shines through because of their inner convictions.
If you get my drift. I like to think that I am sincere. I know I have been called boring because of my sincerity...Well, what can I say? Judge for yourself.

Beauty is complex. You can have the beauty associated with top models, who have beautiful faces and beautiful bodies (and beautiful bank balances), but this beauty can be all show and rather empty.
And besides that, it can give us, ordinary un-beautiful women, a feeling of inadequacy. 
No need!!!!
I am going to show you, right here, that beauty is in the eye of the beholder. And that people, even people with wrinkles, illnesses and/or tottering bank balances can indeed be called beautiful as well.

An example. Look at this photo (taken by Wibe Koopman):

What do you see? A young woman in a field of frothy flowers. Is she beautiful? I think so, I think she's gorgeous, but then I am biased, this is my daughter.

You could argue that she looks cross. Does that make her less beautiful? Would the knowledge that she's a loving person make her look less cross in your eyes? Or the fact that she was explicitly told not to smile?

Another example.

This woman is bald. Baldness is thought of as ugly, unattractive, especially in a woman. In men it is more accepted, especially now that shaving your head is in vogue in my country.

But what makes this woman beautiful? For I think she is! It is the look in her eyes, the slight smile on her lips, her dignity.

This woman has cancer, so she has lost her hair. I found her photo on the Internet (where else), and I wanted to show it to you. It is an initiative which helps women with cancer feel that they are more than their illness. So, in itself, this initiative is beautiful as well.

Here's another example.

Gorgeous, isn't she?

Now: how about this one.

Yep. A woman with a beard.  

I can hear you think: OMG, a woman with a beard!! And I must admit, when I saw her for the first time, last night on TV, my first reaction was this: "Oh...really...what's next?"  But then she opened her mouth, and what came out was so beautifully sung that I forgot all my reservations. And her eyes showed that she was singing her heart out with sincerity.

And within seconds I had accepted that beard. As I said, beauty is in the eye of the beholder.

She is in the race for the Eurovision Song Contest, her name is Conchita Wurst, and there have been countries that wanted her disqualified for being a disgrace. Namely: a transgender with a beard. 

I say: shame on those countries! I see a beauty, who happens to sing the stars out of the sky. 

Obviously I still root for The Common Linnets. But if they cannot win, I hope Conchita will.

Absence of Vanity

The 3rd "Ity" from the 18 compiled by the Swami.
And the first one that poses a frisson of doubt. Omnia Vanitas, right?

According to my Oxford Advanced Learners Dictionary Vanity  means 'too much pride in your own appearance, abilities or achievements'. Or, more deep, 'the quality of being unimportant, especially compared with other things that are important' (the vanity of human ambition in the face of death).
The last one is the easier: if you ask me, anything is unimportant in the face of death, except death itself and how to avoid it.

Vanity. Yes, most definitely one of the less attractive human traits. And at the same time almost accepted as a given. Look at all those selfies on FB and Instagram. "You're so vain, you probably think this song is about you"; Carly Simon sang it 40 years ago and not a lot has changed, really, has it?

If you practice absence of vanity, is that feeling at peace with yourself? Or is it synonymous for humility, the quality of being humble?

Am I vain? Hm. Absolutely where my appearance is concerned. I would never (ever!) go to the supermarket in sweatpants, or without combing my hair. And I wouldn't been seen dead in a bikini these days. And I've invested in far too expensive L'Occitane moisturizer only yesterday.

How about those abilities and achievements, then? I'm not vain about those, surely? I'm much too insecure for that. Although I am proud of the books I have published. Is that vanity?

If you want to achieve absence of vanity, does that mean you have to walk around make-up less, or can we take care of our appearance, make ourselves attractive, without it being vanity?

According to Wikipedia (thanks, guys!): 

In conventional parlance, vanity is the excessive belief in one's own abilities or attractiveness to others. Prior to the 14th century it did not have such narcissisticundertones, and merely meant futility.^[1] The related term vainglory is now often seen as an archaic synonym for vanity, but originally meant boasting in vain, i.e. unjustified boasting;^[2] although glory is now seen as having an exclusively positive meaning, the Latin term gloria (from which it derives) roughly means boasting, and was often used as a negative criticism

Vainglory, what a lovely word. It sounds too sweet for its meaning. Futility- now that is a word to work with! When you have reached my age (almost 56), you come to realise it is futile to want to look as gorgeous as your daughter. Vanity in the looks department sense is a waste of time and money. You can botox yourself to the extent that your face looks like a wrinkle-less mask, but your hands will always give you away instantly.

What do you think? Should we rebel, and revert back to our natural state of being? No more hair dye? No more anti-wrinkle cream? Ban all dieting? 

Let ourselves go, like most men of our age do? We would achieve absence of vanity, perhaps. But also absence of joy-de-vivre. I do like my L'Occitane, I do.

A New Serial: Beautiful Hellevoetsluis!

This evening I had a short discussion with my daughter. Her argument was that Hellevoetsluis, and especially the part of Hellevoetsluis we live in (called the Kooistee) is ugly, or un-attractive at the least.
To prove her wrong, I took her for an hour long walk. In the rain (poor girl). To show her that the Kooistee may be a working men's suburb, but that there is beauty here.
This is the result.
And I thought that I would show you some more pictures from time to time, to prove that even the Kooistee has its merits.

These photos are from one and the same corner, on the Orion. A very early rose and  three kinds of clematis.

Our route this evening. (Google maps): Left on Trambaanpad, right on Mandenmaker, right to Nijverheidsweg, left to Kanaalweg, left to Orion (took 4 photos on the corner), left to Nereus, right to Dierenriem, straight on to Trambaanpad.

Next time I'll show you another route. 

Abafazi : go to this show if you want an uplifting evening!

Going to the theatre is one of the joys of my life. Especially when it is musical theatre.
Ever since I went to the Shaffy Theater in Amsterdam when I was 17, I was hooked. And I still go as often as I can manage, now that I am deep into my 5th decade, and approaching the 6th.

African music has a special place in my heart, since my Mum brought home an lp of Ipitombi from Johannesburg in the 70's. I 'borrowed' this, and have played it again and again and again. So, whenever there's a show with African music near Rotterdam, I go.
I saw Umoja in the Luxor Theatre, and the African Mamas in the New Luxor (twice), and numerous smaller productions. And now this one: Abafazi, meaning 'women' in Zulu, I'm told.

The energy these women display! I would be dead within 10 minutes if I had to dance, drum and sing at the same time. And they keep this up for 2 hours!
And another observation: we Dutch females can learn a thing or two about feeling at home in your own body. Some of the Abafazi artists are 'big' to put it mildly. But they shine, and dazzle, and are gorgeous.

So...they have an extensive playlist and a FB page, so you have absolutely NO excuse to not go to one of their shows. 
Enjoy it!