By Msonter Anzaa
Why should serious-minded individuals be careful about this beauty thing? One, it is not necessary. I must begin by confessing that I admire beauty like everyone else. However, I know that beauty is not a peripheral thing, even though it might be complemented by external accessories. Why then do we put so much emphasis on these accessories that are most of the time deceptive? Why do we give all of our time to them? It is not necessary to hold beauty contests all the time. It is not necessary for every little department and micro-association on campus to hold its own beauty contest. It is not necessary either, to bother our gentle ladies with strange, awkward steps that are uncomfortable even to themselves.
Second, if we are true to the university’s status as an academic community, then where is the place for such fanfare and cacophony? How many of our campus associations organise academic quizzes for their members? How many of them know about the academic statuses of their members? Will it not be shameful if the lady who wears the crown in the History Department for instance, has an extra year in school because of poor academic performance? Would it not also be unbelievable if the most beautiful girl in the university is found to lead an off-campus robbery gang? There are various ways of promoting self-development. Why must it be this Shakespearean “sound and fury, signifying nothing?” Instead of engaging corporate organizations into sponsoring these intangible excitements, we can engage them to sponsor more honorable ventures. Who in the university for instance is the queen of honesty? Who also, is the most hard-working lady or gentleman in the department of Mass Communication? Why are we not passionate about promoting tangible, sustainable and productive values?
Third, what qualities do we inculcate in ourselves in readiness for the life after school; where there would no longer be beauty pageants holding every month? The time will come when it would not be important that you once wore the crown of Miss something. What would count would be your ability to deliver on the job. It would be most embarrassing if as a former queen, you do not have pleasant manners towards customers. Instead, you leave your station to Angelina’s where you gossip about who is following who in your work place. We must be real enough to face the reality of our world. The rate of joblessness in Nigeria is so high that we ought to use whatever opportunity we have to develop ourselves and ideas to be useful in building our nation.
Finally, like I have said from the beginning, there is nothing wrong with holding beauty pageants once in a while. We must however, be careful what values we try to promote. We must not be carried away by the euphoria of the display of external, momentary and sometimes artificial glamour. We must instead, encourage values of peace, humility, honesty, service, hard work and other godly values needed for the resuscitation of our communities and our nation. If we do, we would derive from within ourselves fulfillment arising from the knowledge that we are participants in the task of building a strong future for ourselves and our families in the land of our fathers.
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