Vanity VS. Sanity

How is it that some people are so vain they can shut out other people's opinions or advice? I wonder how much are they willing to shut out? Would they shut out advice that go against their vanity even if it meant that they either lived or died?

I guess if I really looked, there are some people who would rather listen to themselves than heed the warnings of others. There's probably a few people who died trying to get the perfect look with one last cosmetic surgery that could answer my question, but then they're dead.

Then there's the bunch of celebrities who would admit that they did go for a little lift or boost, but they are alright. So they need to keep up appearances sometimes, or look a little younger for a role... but then I'd say there's always make up & latex things to add to your face.

One example for someone I would put under this list of the 'insanely vain' would be the one who had so many procedures done that the nose actually fell off, telling this person to stop. The things is, this person has gone into hiding and most of us won't really know if more procedures have been done. So even if the person stopped after the nose incident, it was quite early on that the world had asked the person to stop with all the cosmetic procedures being done. Although it started out just to even out skin tone, it should've stopped at that if the person was honest and confident about looks. However, I guess the person wanted to look like someone else and continued with cosmetic procedure till the body could take no more. Is this person lucky enough to have their own body telling them to stop? Or would the person rather have died during one last procedure?

Well on to the less dramatic people that are closer to home, the people who I know, and I would call friends. So compared to me, I guess everyone of my friends, maybe except one tomboyish girl and my straight guy friends, would be listed as vain. Well, I'm not talking about people who like to use make up to cover up flaws, or have such a huge love for make up they won't leave the house without it on their face. I'm talking about people who have such big vain egos that they can't live without people lying to their faces that they look good.

What actually got me pissed off was the fact that a friend asked me if I noticed if they've lost weight, and if their skin-lightening treatment seems to be working. My answer was no to both, which somehow got this friend pissed off enough to say that I was blind. Saying that out of everyone that was asked, I was the only one that disagreed. So somehow, because I'm going against everyone else with MY OPINION, I'm blind. Well I obviously didn't let that comment go down without a fight, and I obviously haven't really let the issue go.

After talking to a mutual friend of ours, I put up the same questions to which she answered no, to both. So I guess I'm not the only blind one? But this mutual friend did bring up the short version of what I was trying to say in my 'closing statements'. We knew, and saw, the bugger for quite a few years, and almost everyday during certain periods of time. With that fact, it's hard to say if someone has really lost weight, or if someone's skin tone is lighter if you see the person almost everyday. Thing is, I haven't really seen the bugger for almost 2 years, but from the image kept locked in my mind, I didn't see the change when we met up either.

So maybe within the last 2 years you did gain and lose a bit (or a lot) of weight. However, if we didn't bother to meet during the 2 years, how am I going to say that you lost weight when u look that same from 2 years back? As for skin lightening, I would say whatever money u spent on it was a wasted effort. If ur race had darker skin tones, stick to those skin tones and not try to be someone you're not. I seriously wonder who was asked about both questions and what they were comparing the 'new image' to.

Why wonder who was asked? Well if the person was asked was under my friend's management, then maybe the answer could have been twisted to stroke the ego of their boss. I guess in the first place, people ask for opinions about themselves to stroke their own egos. So maybe some (or most since I'm the only 1 of maybe 3 people who would do otherwise) people would be tactful, yet DISHONEST, enough to say nice things so that this vain person can feel good. Stroke ego, get into good books, job safe.

Well, maybe lucky for me, my friend is not my boss, but even if that was the case, I wouldn't change my answer. The reason is that I honestly believed the question was asking for my opinion, and not as some big ego booster. So according to my opinion, the thousands you have spent on lightening the correct skin tone has been all a waste of time and money. Furthermore, a thousand (or more?) a month is such a stupid amount to spend on creams. For just 10% of that amount, there are products that promise to do the same... so why not try that first? Then again, I'd say stick to the skin tone you were born with.

Well the 2 issues weren't the only things that got me irritated. Because of the 2 questions, it got me thinking about an incident that happened a day before. It was about t-shirt sizes, and the big ego that caused blindness. So we saw this really cute shirt while shopping and they had put up two of the available sizes up for show. One looked like a kid-sized shirt, while the other looked like the adult-sized shirt. After inquiring about sizes, we found out that it was a Large and a Small on display. Looking at the shirts, I decided to get myself an XL, thinking that if it was too tight, at least I could give it to mom. My friend, however, decided to get the small as "I wear size S for all my t-shirts". Even after questions put up from me about it fitting, and even suggestions from the vendor and myself to get a medium-sized shirt instead, the decision was made to get a small-sized one. So the t-shirt ended up not fitting and is now a souvenir for my 14-yr-old cousin.

Well so maybe this seems like I'm stroking my own ego... and maybe in a strange way I am... but I'm saying that if you want my opinion, don't expect my opinion to always paint the same perfect picture in your head. For one thing, people that know me well, know that I will tell you quite straightforwardly if something doesn't suit you. What are friends for if they can't stop u from making bad choices? What's the use of letting someone try/buy something and fail/look horrible? However, if you do decide to go against an opinion, and fail... then don't get angry if I turned around and said "Well I told you so....".