Thinking Out Loud, Volume CDXX

I've tried to care, but I can't. My wife cares. It comes to her naturally. I want to be a person with taste, or culture, but some things just don't interest me.....like the color of the sheets on our bed, or the patterns on our dishes. At one point, I made up my mind I would develop an interest in such things, but I discovered I have no idea what looks good or what doesn't. Maybe it's a man thing, because I've never met a woman who doesn't have an opinion on those matters, but I don't know many men who have an interest in them. The only area where practically all men demand beauty is in our women. While women want men they think are good looking, they aren't as picky in that respect as us men. In fact, I wonder if maybe we might be too picky. The pressure to be beautiful is tremendous on our women, and especially on teenage girls. Sometimes it's difficult for the male gender to understand how girls feel, because we don't face the same kinds of pressures as our female counterparts. The basic operation of the male brain is much more simple than it is for females, and as a result, we may not be aware of how much of a negative impact on a girl's level of self confidence some careless, snide remark can have. Like most men, I will take notice of a woman who looks really pretty, and though an hour later I will remember how nice she looked, I will not remember what she was wearing; but any other woman who saw her will recall every little detail of her attire, including her accessories. That means when a girl is getting dressed, not only does she have to do so in a way to get the guys to notice her, but she also must consider how she will be appraised by other girls, and often other girls are her worst critics....even to the point at times of being downright mean. There is a reason I'm discussing this matter today. Bringing up girls in today's society is a difficult task, and it's getting harder every year. Though this situation is by no means exclusive to our young women, it is they who are affected most. Ladies and gentlemen, the number of adolescent girls who are mutilating their bodies or attempting suicide is running rampant. I know the cause of this problem runs much deeper than just the reasons I've mentioned today, but I do feel that somehow we have to make an effort to let our girls know how beautiful they are, both inside and out. I'm not sure exactly what the answer is, but maybe we should try to come up with a new definition of the word "beautiful." A few weeks ago I talked about how there are some things of which we need to be constantly reminded, and for girls, how beautiful they are is one of those things. So many of our girls go through life feeling ugly, or feeling fat, and those feelings lead to the lie that they have no self worth. Although this situation is not a new thing, it seems to me it's much worse today than it was when I was in my teens, and I'm of the opinion that social media is at least partly to blame. I believe our girls are under so much pressure to be beautiful it makes them vulnerable; a guy will show her a little attention, and the next thing you know, she's pregnant. Then the guy who made her feel wanted a couple months ago is now nowhere to be found, which leaves her feeling even more devastated and worthless than before. This is an area that parents and churches definitely need to address, but society as a whole also needs to get involved. I have friends who are involved in ministries that were created to help salvage our young women who are cutting themselves, attempting suicide, or being held as sex slaves, and as I talk to them, I learn that these problems are much more widespread than I ever dreamed...even in our local communities. Somehow we have to come up with a way of saving our young girls before it's too late. It's something we can all care about. Preston