Plastic Surgery

I had to go in for a doctor visit the other day... so, I took along a really good book to read (Blue Like Jazz, by Donald Miller... I highly recommend it), and was looking forward to some quiet time while I was waiting for my name to be called.
Suddenly, right at 9 a.m on the button, the television, bolted to the wall directly above my head , began blaring..."The Regis And Kelly Show"!.... loud enough that folks could hear it all the way through the building and the McDonald's about a block away.
I tried to just keep reading and simply ignore the inane blathering above my head. But, something about their conversation caught my attention. They suddenly started talking about "plastic surgery",.. and how, breast enhancements were becoming "passe". The NEW trend was in "calf" enhancement and , "upper arm" implants. (I kid you not).... Folks had commented so much on Michelle Obama's sleeveless blouses and how great her "arms" looked that now women wanted arms like hers... or "calves" like.... I don't know..... calves?.....(the barnyard variety)....?
Anyway,... it made me almost sick,.. and mad. They were talking about all these implants and I was thinking to myself, "What they really NEED is a BRAIN implant!"....
I had recently seen a program on t.v. where entire families in Asia were living on floating boats, eating fish out of a river full of diesel fuel, garbage and human waste. Raising families on 5 bucks a day by selling fish from that same nasty river. And here we are, worried about how we "look". Amazing.
Plastic surgery. That's a good name for it. Plastic.... Like when something isn't really real. We use to say, "Hey, is that real?".... and someone would answer forlornly, "No, sorry,...it's just plastic".
I think it's a real gauge of where our society is. We, as a society, are so fixated on "appearance". Women have to have bigger (smaller sometimes, but most of the time "bigger")...breasts, and firmer "butts", and better skin and nails and teeth and eyelashes....calves and upper arms. Men have to have more hair, six-pack abs, bigger.... well, you figure it out.... The only thing it seems we don't need bigger or more of .... ego.
I realize I'm venting. I normally try to write a blog that is more.... more,... uplifting?....
But, sometimes you just gotta vent. All I'm saying is: If you are one of those people thinkin about having plastic surgery (unless you've been in a fire or accident and need to be restored to some "normalcy".... please, I beg you... don't!... That goes for face-lifts too. Have you actually "seen" Kenny Rogers lately? His wax figure in Branson, Missouri looks more lifelike that he does.
We all love Martin Luther King Jr. We love to think about what a great man he was, how he changed segregation, how he stood up (and was persecuted for standing up for) some amazing things. We love to quote him. It makes us sound kind of cool, ...I think...
Martin Luther King Jr. said: "A man (or woman) should not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character."
I agree. I also think we shouldn't judge "ourselves" by the content of what is "under" the skin, especially Silicon Valley "implants". We all need to work on our "character". We need "character" implants.
That's what I love about God and The Church, real community, family, and 12-Step Programs. They help develop character. They don't care about your bra size....
Someday, if God ever asks me, "What did you do with your life, .... I don't want to stand there like and idiot and say, "Well, let's see... I got these really cool hair implants.... and I got these great looking abs...and "calves"... don't forget those!... Spent a fortune on them!"....

And God would look at me sadly and say something, like.... "I see... but, I don't think you really understood the question. The question was: "What did you do with your.... LIFE"?.....