If looks could kill (reprise)
I'm reposting this piece (posted more than a year ago) because the experience happened again this morning and as before, gave me a rush of blood in the head.
A man is measured by his accomplishments and worth, they always say. We always look up to the great men of our soceity, that's true. But how can you size up someone whom you've just met? Or in this case, you just rode the bus with, or travelled in the train, or you just plainly see in the coffeeeshop. It's sad to admit but we always judge people just by how they look. Appearance always influenced the way we treat people. It's as if there's something in looking better that makes one a better person than the other sitting next. Well, maybe there is something (the term "lamang ng isang paligo" comes to mind). You can ask the guy whose heart just got busted out by a former girlfriend because a better looking man came along. Ask marketing executives. Or better yet, ask advertising agents and beauty consultants. They will always say: LOOKS SELLS. Well, I can see that. They have their millions of profit laughing all the way to the bank.
Okay, then. I have no problem with that. If Anna Kournikova earns so much out of tennis marketing without even winning a grand slam, i have no objection. What makes me sick is how people look at someone and think is somewhat inferior to them-- especially if its in the physical aspect. And this kind of incident always come in two packages-- Appearance and race.
This morning while going to my office, i rode a bus with a fairly attractive lady sitting in the seat before mine. As the bus went on its route, more people went in and gets fuller until the seat of that lady was the only one vacant(we all know in a bus we always sit in pairs). One indian guy came up the bus after it halted on a bus loading/unloading point, and seeing that the only seat available is that of the young lady, he went on to sit on it. The young lady shrugged away, covered his nose and make all the "yuckie" gestures that she can make, and made sure their clothes dont even touch. Seeing this made blood rush to my head. Just because this lady thought that she's pretty(well she is, i have no problem about that), she already made a judgement that this guy, who courteously and even reluctantly sitted next to her (even sitting just at the edge) was way below her par that she can have all the liberty in the world to publicly humiliate him. Never mind that maybe this guy is a physicist or rocket scientist (I'm just making a point, of course). What i really wanted to say is that it's sad to realize this. Because however beautiful one may look, it doesn't give him/her the right or even previlege to mock another person's appearance. It's a human being, for crying out loud.
We always hear the old saying " Don't juge a book by its cover". It's so popular saying it is cliché. But unfortunately, people don't really learnt from it. Especially the ones who thinks they're so special and much glorified by a bunch of suckers.
A man is measured by his accomplishments and worth, they always say. We always look up to the great men of our soceity, that's true. But how can you size up someone whom you've just met? Or in this case, you just rode the bus with, or travelled in the train, or you just plainly see in the coffeeeshop. It's sad to admit but we always judge people just by how they look. Appearance always influenced the way we treat people. It's as if there's something in looking better that makes one a better person than the other sitting next. Well, maybe there is something (the term "lamang ng isang paligo" comes to mind). You can ask the guy whose heart just got busted out by a former girlfriend because a better looking man came along. Ask marketing executives. Or better yet, ask advertising agents and beauty consultants. They will always say: LOOKS SELLS. Well, I can see that. They have their millions of profit laughing all the way to the bank.
Okay, then. I have no problem with that. If Anna Kournikova earns so much out of tennis marketing without even winning a grand slam, i have no objection. What makes me sick is how people look at someone and think is somewhat inferior to them-- especially if its in the physical aspect. And this kind of incident always come in two packages-- Appearance and race.
This morning while going to my office, i rode a bus with a fairly attractive lady sitting in the seat before mine. As the bus went on its route, more people went in and gets fuller until the seat of that lady was the only one vacant(we all know in a bus we always sit in pairs). One indian guy came up the bus after it halted on a bus loading/unloading point, and seeing that the only seat available is that of the young lady, he went on to sit on it. The young lady shrugged away, covered his nose and make all the "yuckie" gestures that she can make, and made sure their clothes dont even touch. Seeing this made blood rush to my head. Just because this lady thought that she's pretty(well she is, i have no problem about that), she already made a judgement that this guy, who courteously and even reluctantly sitted next to her (even sitting just at the edge) was way below her par that she can have all the liberty in the world to publicly humiliate him. Never mind that maybe this guy is a physicist or rocket scientist (I'm just making a point, of course). What i really wanted to say is that it's sad to realize this. Because however beautiful one may look, it doesn't give him/her the right or even previlege to mock another person's appearance. It's a human being, for crying out loud.
We always hear the old saying " Don't juge a book by its cover". It's so popular saying it is cliché. But unfortunately, people don't really learnt from it. Especially the ones who thinks they're so special and much glorified by a bunch of suckers.
posted by Rey at 5:06 PM
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