PAGE 98
THE WARREN-WATCHUNG CONNECTION
NOVEMBER 2013
Scan This Code
to Visit
The Connections
YouTube Channel
www.youtube.com/user/ConnectionsNJ
www.theconnectionsnj.com
Connectionsnj@gmail.com
THE CONNECTIONS
Salma Hayak
Is Oh, So Beautiful!
By: Ellyn Mantell
Yes, she certainly is! But since you already know that just from looking at her, I
want to explain to you why her beauty is the subject of my article. It is because
Ms. Hayak is confident about her beauty, knows she is blessed with glorious fea-
tures, and could become obsessed with her appearance, her outward presentation
to the world. She could spend her days doing even MORE to be beautiful…”doing
without carbs, without wine,” without, without. Rather, she said recently in an
interview that she could, indeed, “eat less dessert, exercise more, work harder” to
be more of everything I just mentioned, and yet she chooses to say she is “good
enough!” As you may know from many of my articles, that is a theme I truly
embrace, and one I like regularly to share with you. For every action, there is a
reaction. And for those obsessed with constant improvement, constant need for
more, better, something of far more value will go missing from our days, from our
lives.
Reading further in the interview with Ms. Hayak, who produced and starred in
FRIDA, one of the most breathtaking movies I have ever experienced, she points
out that she is very much aware of her strengths, and equally as aware of what
might be perceived as negatives. She is small, quite tiny, really, as I can personally
attest, having seen her in person at an international airport. (Yes, she, too, waited
on the same security line as did we, but she had three huge and handsome body
guards carrying her tennis racquets and carry-ons.) Although in films she appears
taller and more “stately” she is not more than two inches over my 5’ something.
Walking the red carpet or on an award show, her long hair twisted high onto her
head, her gowns long and flowy, she is rarely described or thought of as a verti-
cally-challenged woman! But in Hollywood, where the expectation of the length
of legs is comparable to those of a young giraffe, she would be considered a dis-
appointment. Additionally, since long, straight blond hair is the ideal, she, the
product of Iranian/Mexican parents, could be considered unacceptable! And what
a travesty THAT would be.
What I love most about her candor in the article is that she doesn’t strive for some-
thing she cannot possibly achieve, and instead, she embraces her beauty, unique
as it is in the La La Land of PERFECTION! Salma is small and curvy, so her wardrobe
enhances those qualities, defining her tiny waist, using the “tricks of the trade”
she so well knows. She is real and relatable, not because she is so “perfect” but
because she is fine with not being so “perfect!”
In truth, it takes as much hard work to feel poorly about ourselves and to focus
on our “imperfections” as it takes to feel good…proud of who we are. Perhaps
one of the defining qualities of a happy person is to recognize what is desirable
about ourselves, rather than how much better life will be when we have attained
whatever alludes us about ourselves. Like converts to a new religion, those who
have reached a sense of “good enough” send a message of comfort, of relaxation,
that is almost palpable.
As a child I often heard “beauty is as beauty does,” and that is very much how I
select the people with whom I share my life...they must be beautiful inside! I will
go one step further, however, and say that outward beauty looks like many things
to many people; it has an ever-changing face; an ever-changing appeal. Ideally,
everyone has beauty, regardless of society’s definition or description of what that
may be. But I believe I have the magic answer for what will actually make each
and every one of us beautiful, and I guarantee you it has nothing to do with the
length of your legs, the size of your hips, the shape of your nose. It has nothing
to do with how much you starve yourself, deny yourself, or beat yourself, and it
has nothing to do with benchmarking yourself against the media-celebrated. In
general, it has nothing to do with the dictum of Hollywood, Paris or the like. It is
quite simple...to be beautiful, accept others...to be truly beautiful, accept yourself!
www.theconnectionsnj.com