I was having a conversation with a friend 'X' years ago, and I repeated the same conversation with him X days ago. For this dear friend of mine, looks are important when picking his significant other: "I cannot date an average looking girl". I clarified the meaning of looks with him to understand that he meant the face, as well as the figure of his significant other. X years ago I chided him for being shallow, chided him that he should look beyond just facial looks and a 36-24-36 figure. I would pride myself for looking beyond that; pride myself that I'm not 'shallow'.
Roughly speaking, on an individual basis, the choice of a significant other can be broadly classified into 3 criteria: looks, personality, intelligence. While the technical definition of the word shallow is limited to 'skin deep' and hence only to looks, I believe the word can imply many more meanings than just for looks. 'Looks go away' is the traditional argument, or 'Money does not stay with you forever' is the argument for 'gold diggers'.
An individual can be intellectually shallow, personality-wise shallow, and shallow in many other ways. If looks and money don't stay forever, neither do intelligence and (most aspects of) personality. Studies have shown that IQ degenerates as time goes on, i.e. an individual is much more 'intelligent' when he/ she is a child, than he/ she is a full grown adult. Personalities can, and do change, over the course of time: an individual is no longer exuberant as time goes on for instance. Therefore, a person who has 'brains' or 'personality' as the primary criteria are just as shallow as someone who has 'looks' as a primary criteria.
Justification about looking at looks primarily as a criteria can be stated as follows: pretty significant other would increase the chances of a good looking offspring, and therefore increase the chances of the offspring finding a better mate.
Therefore, the only real non-shallow person is someone who has niceness, and friendliness, of the significant other as the primary criteria, just a thought to ponder over...
Roughly speaking, on an individual basis, the choice of a significant other can be broadly classified into 3 criteria: looks, personality, intelligence. While the technical definition of the word shallow is limited to 'skin deep' and hence only to looks, I believe the word can imply many more meanings than just for looks. 'Looks go away' is the traditional argument, or 'Money does not stay with you forever' is the argument for 'gold diggers'.
An individual can be intellectually shallow, personality-wise shallow, and shallow in many other ways. If looks and money don't stay forever, neither do intelligence and (most aspects of) personality. Studies have shown that IQ degenerates as time goes on, i.e. an individual is much more 'intelligent' when he/ she is a child, than he/ she is a full grown adult. Personalities can, and do change, over the course of time: an individual is no longer exuberant as time goes on for instance. Therefore, a person who has 'brains' or 'personality' as the primary criteria are just as shallow as someone who has 'looks' as a primary criteria.
Justification about looking at looks primarily as a criteria can be stated as follows: pretty significant other would increase the chances of a good looking offspring, and therefore increase the chances of the offspring finding a better mate.
Therefore, the only real non-shallow person is someone who has niceness, and friendliness, of the significant other as the primary criteria, just a thought to ponder over...
No comments:
Post a Comment