To Photo Shop or Not

I consider myself non-judgmental (much of the time) but I may need to rethink that. Or maybe there's a line between judgement and just plain curious. Here's what got me thinking along these lines......

Not long ago at the bank, it happened again. The greeter at the BOA, the one I don't frequent but have as of late, walked up to me and said, "Do you only have a deposit?" 

I smiled, nodded and said, "Yes." I nearly began walking toward her assuming she was about to write a deposit slip for me the way the greeter does at the BOA in my 'hood. 

Instead this young woman said, "The ATM is just behind you." 

From her look I could tell she saw my look, because her smile vanished before I said, "I prefer people over ATM's." 

I stood in the line and met the gentleman in front of me when what I really wanted to do was ask this woman about her looks, not her look. 

Yes, I wondered how she really looked beneath the mask of make-up. Trust me it was a mask and I'm not knocking make-up. (A handful of folks, or maybe more, have probably looked at me and thought I could benefit from make-up. Or they've been curious as to why I don't.)

I wear lip gloss and blush at times but have worn foundation all of four times in the last 5 years - once for Wendy's wedding, once for a video, and twice now for auditions. 

The man in front of me agreed he liked the personal touch of human tellers as well. I shared the last time I stood in line at this particular bank after being encouraged to go to the ATM. That time, I commented on the teller's necklace and learned it was a St. Christopher that had been blessed by Pope Francis. No one was behind me so she and I talked about our appreciation for him. I told her he was enough to make me consider becoming Catholic. In my world, ours was a beautiful exchange confirming I had made the choice best for me, standing in line rather than using a machine. 

After the banking encounter, I ventured to Whole Body. I made a return and as I walked out I passed a boy of five or six with his mother. He was talking and pointing to the magazine rack. The word  "air brushed" stopped me as he continued pointing. His mother bent down trying to understand. 

I understood. This child of six at the most was telling his mother that the thin woman on the magazine cover had been air brushed. I looked at the mother and said, "Your son is wise and he's right." 

Then I added, "Just about everything on magazines and ads are air brushed these days. Actually I'm beginning to think even people are air brushed." 

She looked at me a bit strange. Afterwards I wished I had gotten down eye level with this young soul and said, "Don't ever let anyone air brush who you are! You be You not what you're told to be or think you're suppose to be."

This brief interaction circled me back around to the woman in the bank. 

What's up with our society and world really? 

Fast isn't necessarily better. Machines cannot deliver the personal touch. (I definitely don't want a drone delivering my pizza as I read recently was in the works.) Beauty is only skin deep and in the eye of the beholder. The personal always tops photo-shopped (unless I'm a marketer trying to sell something.) Foundation is an interesting word choice for what we women put on our face. 

And I am curious as to how women and girls spend time putting on make-up, some a lot more than others, covering up how they really look because a magazine, a mother, a model, a societal mode tells them to. 

I'm curious. Are you? 

-Dawn, The Good News Muse 13 March 2015

dawn@imaginetheshift.com