Superficial

When one changes his appearance through cosmetic surgery, will the person inside him change as well? Will his fears and insecurities vanish when the mirror speaks differently this time? It seems that there is a dangerous line between reality and fantasy that one needs to cross to be able to fully accept his being. But then, a stained white shirt would be worn differently when bleach works out in eradicating the stain.

An outburst of discussion happened in the social media sites when Marlo Arizala transformed himself to Xander Ford through multiple surgeries augmenting his looks to become that of his dreamed face. The former character actor with dark complexion and not-so-likable nose was featured in Korina Sanchez’s “Rated K” which catapulted the fame of the “new” kind of handsome.

Dr. Bryan Madelson, a noted cosmetic surgeon said that we live in a society that is obsessed with looks and those who go under the knife want their confidence back. Might as well consider the loss of confidence... What is it? Is it due to the pressure the society is setting that the good-looking ones are the persons to make it better and get the attention in the community? Or an unmet need of being accepted for who he or she is…

Historically, the Filipinos have been oppressed by different cultures that “hiya” is deep-seated in our midst and so with inferiority. When the Spanish conquestadors ruled over us, we were the household help. Our forefathers suffered the disgust of being an Indio - the brown-skinned helper. The fair-skinned senyors and senyoritas paraded the society with their perfectly-chiseled noses and smooth and milky complexion. They were the demigods and we really wanted to be like them. We then saw the arrival of the Americans as an academic bliss. They seemed to have a messianic impact to our culture since they educated the dark-skinned tabula rasa. They taught us with literature and we loved the American-English language that we even consider a person intelligent if he or she could speak it well. We marveled on their height and fair-skin, perfect noses and musical accent.

Acculturation took place and continued. That is the reason why our national heroes did a lot of efforts in raising our own identity as Filipinos. Some of them even died fighting for it.

So what’s the fuzz on Xander’s need to look differently? Our culture dictates it. We grimace on the brown complexion that we have. The influx of whitening lotions and soaps with glutathione are evidences of such need. We dye our hair to be similar to those of the American supermodels and we see women who are not tall as inferior to those who have long legs. We are the ones telling our children to be NOT who they are but be influenced with a belief transferred from one generation to another.

We all could be Xander Fords in our own ways. We just have to remember the times when we tried hard to look young, to see make up as a miracle and the cosmetics as enhancers of our real images. We just have to recall the times when we felt inferior when someone so fair-skinned passed by and we wanted to be like the person.

But going back to the inner self: Is Xander Ford different now? Are the needs and longings being addressed by the augmentation procedures? What would happen if they were not? Let us remember the sad plight of Michael Jackson, an African American who then became white. He underwent surgical procedures to look like his ultimate dream of a face: Diana Ross. When he attained the desired look, the hunger continued…His money went to the drains when the inner person continued to be unsatisfied that he eventually died unhappy.

Self-acceptance and self-love are essential things for our overall health and happiness. By embracing our flaws and individuality, we find the key to the realization that we are made differently. We are special in our own ways. We are unique. The body is just a shell.