We need ‘real beauty sketches’

There is a great video on the Internet about how women see themselves versus how others see them. If you have a wife or daughter, I would encourage them to find it and watch the various videos from the social experiment.

The reason I choose to write about it is because of how people, particularly leaders, seem to be more concerned about public impressions rather than fact based research. When mere sentiments and impressions become the basis for government reaction and response, it is evident that the leadership is motivated by popularity instead of intellect.

Judging from how certain government officials and media reacted to the survey results on guns and poverty, it worries me to consider that people who should know better have allowed themselves to be swept by shallow surveys and sentiments.

All this reminds me of the social experiment conducted by DOVE, the beauty products company, which has made a name for themselves for emphasizing true beauty, self worth and appreciating one’s natural features.

In the social experiment entitled “Real Beauty sketches” DOVE invited several women to “sit” as model for an FBI trained forensics artist named Gil Zamora. As a forensic artist Zamora has drawn over 3,000 peoples’ portraits, usually criminals, based on the memory and inputs given to him by a “witness”. The subjects were “everyday - ordinary” women who sat behind a curtain opposite to the forensic artist. They were given two specific instructions: respond to the questions of the forensic artist and to be friendly with a person assigned to them during the experiment. The artist never sees the subject and draws an image based on what the subject tells him. After completing the session, the female subject leaves the room, never sees the artist or his work.

After each subject, the forensic artist then does a second portrait based on the inputs of the subject’s assigned “partner” who in turn describes the subject based on memory from the time spent with her. After all the portraits were completed, the organizers setup the pair of portraits like an art exhibit. In effect, the pair of portraits reflected how the subject saw or thought they looked like compared to what other people saw and thought they looked like.

The undeniable fact was that most if not all of the subjects had a less than flattering portrayals of themselves. Most of them portrayed themselves as older, fatter, less appealing or were concerned about a particular part of their face like the nose or chin.

As forensic artist Gil Zamora explained: “It’s emotional. We could be highly critical of the way we look, that actually people aren’t picking up on everything. If we just realize that, I think we won’t be so hung up making sure we look a certain way”.

When leaders as well as ordinary people start getting affected by what people think, say, or feel, we ultimately lose sight of our own strengths, vision and goals. Once we use other peoples’ standards and expectations we soon give up on our own. What is more important as proven in the DOVE Beauty sketches is for all of us to appreciate what we have, what we have achieved and to continue staying focused on facts and not sentiments because emotions tend to paralyze instead of energize. True leadership, as we all know, is not a popularity contest.

* * * At around lunch today, Philippine Airlines will be hosting their kick off event for PAL’s new routes namely Kuala Lumpur, Perth, Brisbane, Darwin, Guangzhou, Abu Dhabi, Dammam, Doha, Dubai, Jeddah and Riyadh. The event, which will be held at the Diamond Hotel, promises to be very interesting as no less than PAL president Ramon Ang will make the formal announcements regarding PAL’s latest plans.

Some of the destinations are clearly intended to maximize PAL’s use of their Extended Range aircraft as well as take full advantage of PAL’s relationship with overseas Filipino workers in the Middle East. PAL’s entry to 3 Australian ports clearly shows the growing number of Australians who have discovered the Philippines and have been flying to the Philippines with great regularity.

* * * The MMDA recently announced that they will FINALLY go after bus drivers who incessantly honk their overly loud air horns. May God increase the tribe of the person directly responsible for getting the MMDA to finally punish some of the No. 1 noise polluters in the country.

But while we’re at it, I think some measure of honesty is also required from private vehicle owners to own up if they are one of those drivers who use their car horn as their doorbell! I have mentioned this highly irritating and insensitive behavior of some people who blow their horns like a fire alarm or as a doorbell at 2, 3 or 4 in the morning.

Would it kill you to have keys made and open your gate yourself like my wife and I do, especially when you know that your neighbors as well as your own family or staff are already sleeping? If you are concerned about safety or are a female driver, you could use your cellphone as your doorbell instead of the car horn. My neighbor Arps De Vera used his imagination and uses a remote controlled chime which tells his guard to open the gate.

The unnecessary honking of horns are just some of the old habits many Filipino drivers need to get rid off. If we want bus and jeepney drivers to act civilized then the rest of us must also live and observe the same rules. Tip: have keys made, tie them to your wallet with an elastic “garter” and you will always have them with you.