Fatal Attraction to Beauty

As Rabih Alameddine once said “It’s a good thing a mother’s vagina contracts after delivery or everybody would try to crawl back in!” That’s exactly what’s happening in our society of Dior Facelifts and Vivienne Botox injections! I always used to think that oppressed emotions eventually turn into great art or murder justifications, but lately they simply seem to turn into the constant need to dial the fabulous doctor and schedule your next exotic razorblade body peeling session in order to look younger then your children. Now don’t get me wrong, beauty always has and always will be one if not the most important part of existence, I’m simply stating that the plastic surgery parties have gone out of hand and no place proves this more then Lebanon. The first days of college have turned into an early Halloween bash with hundreds of bandage covered, purple stained bloated faces gleefully parading around wondering why the hell hasn’t that other girl lifted her chin, reconstructed her cheekbone structure or at least turned her nose into a tiny bump with nostrils which will definitely make brain observation so much simpler. A friend of mine who was visiting Lebanon earlier this year was astonished to the point where we literally had to get out of the car and take a picture of him standing beneath a billboard advertisement which was advertising a bank loan for plastic surgeries. “There is no way my friends back home will believe this unless they see me standing beneath it!” he exclaimed with wide opened eyes and a sight-blinding American smile. His joy and excitement reached to the point where he was considering leaving his home country and move to Lebanon. The Lebanese society and its starvation for beauty has long ago turned the Lebanese outing and night life into a catwalk of glamour. But that’s great right? Off course it is, but this is only Lebanon as seen by an untrained eye! As long as we will have sleek macho guys confidently displaying their Dolce Armani shirts and Emporio Versace jeans at clubs to which they arrive in their old cars and spend the entire night with one drink in their hand, fashion and beauty will be an illusion, a scent that true “Haves” leave behind them for the “Have-Nots”. Now many people tell me: “Money will not bring happiness!” and I simply reply “No, but it will simply allow you to be miserably disgusted in comfort!” And I will stick to my belief call me what you may, and at the end of the day when my psychiatrist asks me if I’m ever troubled by immoral thoughts? I will simply reply “No, Doctor. Actually to be perfectly honest, I rather enjoy them!”