What’s wrong, oops I mean What’s right with this picture?

 

Apart from pathological or psychological syndromes, I believe we are all instinctively tuned to like ourselves. We are programmed to like our own personality and bodies, in whatever shape and form.  We can also be taught to be a bit self-deprecating, not to brag.  And certainly society has a way to make us observe “reality”, or to impose false models.

As I mentioned above, I do not wish to make light or serious physical of psychological conditions, those are not part of what I am talking about. However, I am sure a fat person might recognise that a bit of slimming would benefit them, but in their own privacy they are not ashamed of their body. Let me digress twice at this point.

– Digression one:  Yes I wrote Fat.  Wow, such a strong word.  Politically incorrect!  Alert of discrimination and adoption of false standards etc.  I am not apologising, this is not a politically correct blog, but at least I will not pretend to insult people by not calling things for what they are.  I am also a bit fat myself, and I recognise I should eat healthier and exercise more.  It would make me look better.  But in my own privacy I am not ashamed of how I look.

– Digression two: shame is really a peculiar emotion. It might be the only one we feel only in a social context.  Love, hate, anger, resentment, joy.  We can feel all of these emotions also if we are alone. Not shame.  No one blushes if there no one else around.  I heard once of a psychological study (I cannot find the reference) that showed that only nuns of closure would blush even if alone: so strong was their perception of right and wrong they could blush at the advent of naughty thoughts.  But most people do not blush when alone, we are not ashamed of ourselves when alone.  We might feel guilty of course, but not physically embarrassed.

Back from the digression, my key point here is that – especially in our own privacy – not only we are not ashamed of ourselves, not only we accept how we look but – here is my thesis – we actually like ourselves a fair bit.

I have a “proof” of this.  And it is in my genetic code. Actually, not only mine, but also that of my father, my brother, my son and my nephew.  And – apparently – Ashton Kutcher.

I attach a picture of the genetic improvement shared by males of our family and – once again only allegedly – Ashton Kutcher.

By the way – oh I digress again – I have no opinion of Ashton Kusher as an actor.  But I do have an extremely high opinion of him as a person. Especially since I heard his acceptance speech at the 2013 Teen Choice Awards.  I highly recommend clicking on the link, it takes only 3-4 minutes and it is a great speech.

Back to our family, you might have noticed the two middle toes in our feet are a bit attached.  I grew up knowing no better.  And I do remember the perplexed look in my kindergarten teacher when I draw a foot – correctly! – including the big toe, the two together, and the other two.

When in the company of my brother and my son, we often (yes ok often) debate the “genetic superiority” – especially from an aesthetic perspective – of our feet.  We heard all the jokes: “are you a good swimmer?”; we heard all the comments: “Does it hurt?” and sympathetic comments: “is not thaaat baaad”.

And we do not understand them.  More specifically, we do not understand how other people cannot simply acknowledge that our feet look better, they are just better designed and pleasing.  Probably a superior mutation destined to survive, prosper and conquer.  Genetics can be so endearing.

Do you have an equally positive mutation you would like to share with the world?