Behaving Accordingly

Knowledge of behaving the right way is not included in our DNA but is instead learned from the time of birth. The key to knowing how to behave in certain situations is through observation. Think about it, when you were last in a situation where you were new and didn't know what to do, you observed other people and learned from them. 

This use of observation is why the media has such a huge effect on the behavior of people, particularly the youth. We should learn eventually what is right and wrong, and what is acceptable behavior. This helps screen our actions from what we see on TV. However, repetitive viewing of behavior may lead to acting out that part. Younger people are more susceptible to this because they do not know any better. I think the media does play a big role in our perceptions but they do not control our relationships and rewrite our cultural scripts. That is up to us, based on the afore mentioned observation. The media might only influence us a bit.

"You're Beautiful!" -James Blunt

Beauty truly is within the eye of the beholder. Each culture has a defined set of traits that make a person beautiful, but that is for society as a whole. Each individual may freely think otherwise. The media does a good job of getting people to think only certain attributes make a beautiful person because they (the media) tend to be superficial. If we set that aside, we are able to find many more beautiful things about people. It is not always about looks. That is on the personal level. I know of many people who are together and have all different looks and sizes. Its what's inside that counts. We have all heard that before. They do not care what others think. It is mostly about being happy. Check out this video, Everyone's Free To Wear Sunscreen on YouTube which talks about beauty. The video features advice about other things in life too.

If a culture was to pick out a "trophy" beautiful person for say, the Ms. World pageant, of course they'd pick the most beautiful defined by their cultural traits. These traits in America usually consist of being thin, tall, having long hair, symmetrical features, long legs, etc. In other countries those traits different. In Kenya, we know that the gap between the two front teeth is desirable.