Monday, April 9, 2012

A to Z challenge

A to Z and my mind:-


I is for Image. 
As a little girl I was always fascinated by reflections and shadows. I always used to ask my grown ups as to why our reflection in a mirror was so much like us and the one on the surface of water was not. I was given a simple answer ie scientific reasons.
I was able to understand another aspect of the word Image only after listening to a conversation between my grown ups about a singer who had changed his image to look more modern. I was puzzled. How does a person change his or her image? Well, it turned out that the word Image was not used in the scientific sense but social sense. So, we can make our own image? "Well we don't. It is mostly the famous who do that," I was told.

In England when I saw the television show Keeping Up Appearances I fully understood the meaning of the word Image in the social sense. As funny as the show was, I was able to understand human nature and what goes on in this world.

In India because of the caste system, lower middle income group of people and low income group of people really do not worry about image as such. They pretty much are complacent as they think that it is their destiny to look the way they do. Also unmarried girls wear prettier things than married women who do not have to worry about looks as they are already blessed with a husband. This always bugged me.

In America we women (and sometimes men too) go out of our way to make sure our Image does not get spoiled. I wish that young men and women try to stay fit for health reasons than for looks. I also wish that we do not become so Image driven that we buy things to show off that we have them even if we cannot afford them. Imagine that there is a mirror in which we can clearly see what we actually are and what we are projecting ourselves to look like a lot of our financial problems would be solved.

15 comments:

Tracy said...

Wonderful I word Munir...you know, I want to look nice but my 'image' of what is nice is NOT what 'fashion' says it's to be...I've just never been one to follow something becuase others do. I am ME!
great post...

B. WHITTINGTON said...

Great post. I agree with you about IMAGE. I believe what is in our hearts is more important than what we dress ourselves up as.
I strive to always "look" nice but I want to also be nice.
You brought up some good points.
Lower income people have other things to worry about than their images. THey have to put food on the table and clothes on their backs.
Maybe we should all take a closer look at ourselves and care less about image and appearances.
Thanks, Munir. Well written. Barbara

Austan said...

Huge concept for the letter I. In our present society, image is crafted and marketed. The impression is that what someone/thing looks like is the important part, not the substance of it. Big food for thought. Thanks Munir.

Anonymous said...

Very insightful post. Nice job. We have to like what we see when we look in the mirror and that has nothing to do with our physical image.

Ruth said...

Great post Munir!
Too many people put too much emphasis on their image.

Lisa said...

Great post Munir. Sometimes I care about my image, sometimes I don't.

Sarah Tokeley said...

This is a really good post Munir. Sometimes I wish I cared a bit more about how I looked, but mostly I'm not bothered. I am bothered about my health though, and am taking steps to improve it.

Youmna09 said...

I also wrote the post for the same word :D
but your thought is amazing :)

CarrieBoo said...

Keeping Up Appearances is a funny show. Mrs Bucket sometimes reminds me of my grandma! Though my grandma's not THAT bad. ;) Class was a huge thing in England (I've lived between England and Canada all my life). Personally, I hate fashion and all the emphasis on looks in our society, and I'd be happy if we all walked about in potato sacks.
Excellent post. :)

Michael Offutt, Phantom Reader said...

This is a fantastic post. The United States has an image obsessed culture...and what I mean by that is that the young people all want to be more beautiful than the next person. It's not enough anymore just to be beautiful for who you are. So the plastic surgery business, tanning business, and other such businesses are booming...all so that people can outdo each other in image.

fishducky said...

Imagine that there is a mirror in which we can clearly see what we actually are and what we are projecting ourselves to look like a lot of our financial problems would be solved.

Very well put! You've obviously thoroughly thought this out.

Unknown said...

Great post and so true! Lovely blog as well.

Shelly said...

This was very interesting, Munir. You sound like a very artistic person. I agree that we should be driven by the health needs of our body rather than how we look.

yaya said...

I sometimes think that the entertainment world is so engrossed in their own image, in what they think the world should see them wearing, saying, doing, that if they were turned inside out there would be nothing but blank space...I think true image is what we develop from the inside out.

Unknown said...

I hate that in entertainment and fashion, image is everything. Great post.

---Damyanti, Co-host A to Z Challenge April 2012
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