Ugly and happy

Driven by a burning desire to look better, some people resort to drastic measures. Not content with cosmetic remedies and non-invasive procedures, they undergo surgery in clandestine clinics. Later, they weep at the results with worse problems than just having an ugly face.

How many people say they are happy with the outcome of plastic surgery, breast augmentation, nose job, face-lift, implantation and other surgical procedures? The Internet is full of horror stories about botched surgeries. A few have even paid the ultimate price.

You think that the way you look is causing you unhappiness? But who determines that a person is beautiful or ugly? If beauty is in the beholder’s eyes, then it is reasonable that to be happy, you spend more time with people who think you are beautiful. Frank Sinatra loves to warble to somebody: “There is no nicer witch than you.”

You know the answer when the wife asks from out of the blue: “By the way, honey, do you think I’m beautiful.” Don’t do a Sinatra and call her “a nice witch.”

We often wonder why some people would go to extremes to alter their face and body. Why would anybody change his or her appearance if he or she were not hiding from police or creditors?

There are various theories. A man may be unhappy with the way he looks because the wife snaps at him when she’s mad: “I don’t like your face.”

Some people have looks similar to their pets, and they want to end the endless taunting. “I’m fed up with being called an askal’s look-alike.” Will he prefer to look like a horse or a monkey? Surely, nobody would prefer to look like a monster, which is often the result of a botched surgery.

In Miami in the United States, a woman, who wanted to work at a nightclub, was searching for a cheap plastic surgeon to give her a curvier body. She found a woman posing as a doctor who filled her buttocks with cement, mineral oil and flat-tire sealant. She came out of the surgery with an oversized butt, which was too large for her frame. When she walks she waddles like a duck.

Dinora Rodriguez, 40, recently went under the knife for breast enhancement operation in California. When she woke up she had one big breast instead of two. Without permission, the surgeon also performed a nip/tuck operation on her eyelids. The result: her eyes will never close all the way and doctors said there is no possible surgery to fix them.

Plastic surgery can be bad for the health and the appearance and celebrities are shining examples. Many of them look different after surgery and their fans and admirers could hardly recognize them. In an industry where face recognition is paramount, having a new face could be a setback.

It’s bad when you emerge ugly rather than pretty after surgery. And it’s sad when you hear such comment as: “She used to look so beautiful.”

You can be happy even if you don’t look as pretty or as dashing as your favorite movie star. Many people will tell you that nobody really cares if you’re miserable, so you might as well be happy.

Happiness is a by-product and it is not something that can be demanded from life, the sages say. Their advice: If you’re not happy you’d better stop worrying about it and see what treasures you can pluck from your unhappiness.

If you’re content with what you are and what you have, it’s so easy to say with all sincerity: “I’m ugly but I’m happy.*

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