You Will Not Be Remembered for Your Looks

It was my turn after standing on the queue for a while, then she raised her head and our eyes met. For the umpteenth time I was stunned by her beauty. “You are very beautiful”, I said. She froze momentarily because she was poised to receive my order and instead, her auditory receptors transmitted a different signal to her brain for processing. When she regained her composure, her face lit up with a smile under twinkling eyes; she said: “No one has ever said that to me here, thank you”.

No man is so powerful to resist the charm of a beautiful woman. The beauty of a woman has caused even angels to fall: “Now it came to pass, when men began to multiply on the face of the earth, and daughters were born to them, that the sons of God (angels) saw the daughters of men, that they were beautiful; and they took wives for themselves of all whom they choose. Genesis 6v1-2

As the male folks are easily captivated by good looking women, so also are women fascinated by handsome men: “Now Joseph was handsome in form and appearance.  And it came to pass after these things that his master’s wife cast longing eyes on Joseph…” Genesis 39v6b

Looking good is good because of its power to attract good things to the carrier. This quality has gone beyond facial appearance to include dress sense, good smell, social etiquette, swag, cars, etc. Anything that will increase our attractiveness we expend on just to satisfy our longing of being appreciated. But at the end of our lives, will our looks count? In other words, will you be remembered for your beauty or handsomeness, fragrance, choice of cars, shoes, designer brands…? What will come out if your name was Google? What will be peoples’ testimony about your life?

Compliments will soon be forgotten after its feel good effect. I am sure the lady I talked about in the beginning might not remember that event any more. Beauty is ephemeral. There is/was/will be someone more good looking than you today, yesterday, and tomorrow. Why then do we place so much value on vanity? You post several pictures of yourself everyday on social media but you are not adding value to your community. World population today is over seven billion with several more billions that have lived before with no record that they ever existed.

Isn’t it pathetic that you live in this digital and information age but you are just a statistics? How can the internet remember a man who lived before the creation of the World Wide Web but doesn’t know you? Many of these men never got their pictures preserved; some have just one to a few. What distinguished these men were what they lived for. They created value not vanity. They concerned themselves with solving real society problems compared to you craving for likes and comments on your pictures that look more fictional than real on social media. If you die today your memory dies with you. You are always having the latest i-phone and don’t know who Graham Bell or Steve Jobs were. You love taking pictures but don’t know who Johann Zahn, Joseph Nicephore and George Eastman were. You use the toilet but don’t know who Sir John Harington was. You travel (or wish to travel) by flight but don’t know who the Wright Brothers were. You commute by train but don’t know James Watt, the inventor of the first steam engine. You shop in the malls but don’t know Victor David Gruen, the creator. Your life is so dependent on electricity but don’t know Michael Faraday. The list is endless. If these men lived lives of vanities, the world would not have transited the Stone Age.

Where is your own product? Where is your own solution to the troubles of the world today? How are you helping to end Covid-19, for example? Don’t be just a statistic. Will your name be a household name tomorrow? Will the world be better because you lived? Remember that our lives are better today because some men knew that finding purpose is more important than good looks. Don’t die with the solution you are meant to bequeath to the world. Posterity is hoping you will play your role so that they can achieve their destinies. Don’t make the grave richer. Die empty. Stop wasting your time and money on the vanity of good looks and give yourself to something worthwhile.

Be valuable!