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Oh boy, Yahz--this is really an interesting question for my brain to try to engage with so early (7 a.m.) in the day, but--I'll give it a shot.
Let's see here, quite honestly, I believe it has EVERYTHING (NOT just a slight impact), but--EVERYTHING to do with a persons personality when you compare physical appearances to their TRUE PERSONALITY.. .
(not to be confused with what we "assume" to be, or what WE see as their so-called personality). What we are seeing in this person could all be a put-on "act" as they attempt to "create" a personality to somewhat match their physical appearance. PLUS, we need to add in the "BIGGIE"---how was this person raised as a child? Did he/she have a great childhood? Did they have other siblings, or were they an only child? If there were siblings, where was this persons place in the "line-up" (first born, middle kid, the baby or ??)? Did they come from a 2-parent home, or were the raised by a single parent? Was there any abuse/neglect, etc., going on in this persons young life, or were they "placed on a pedestal", so-to-speak? Thus, creating the adult form of "Mr. Macho", or "The Princess"---usually known as the "Stone (or Ice) Princess". Now, we also must add in here how this person did in school, and just how far did they go in school--a drop-out, high school grad., some college, a degree/advanced degree, etc.? And, finally--if we're talking about a college grad.,--WHO financed this? Did Daddy take care of the whole thing, or did this person actually have to WORK for it with part time jobs, Pell Grants, student loans, scholarships, etc.?
ALL OF THIS plays a part in creating the adult person that we now see and experience.
I can personally give you two EXCELLENT examples of this type of thing on BOTH sides of this topic from 2 different friends of mine who don't even know each other--they are both women:
1.)---I'll call her "Susy". This is a (almost) 36 year old female who was born with SEVERE/life threatening birth defects--internally and externally. Doctors/specialists did not expect her to live for more than 5 minutes past birth--36 years later, she's still here with us. These defects are due to her dad being directly sprayed (several times) with Agent Orange during the Vietnam War. I won't go into the internal problems much right here, but her OUTWARD appearance is nothing less than HIDEOUS! And, I am NOT saying this to be mean--she's the one who pointed a lot of this out to ME--I didn't see it! SHE is the one who told me about how she looks like a MONKEY! And, honestly, when I really look for it, I can see it. Originally, when I met her, I thought that this girl had been in some horrible fire or had acid thrown on her or some other horrible thing. Her face is scarred everywhere, her eyes are like tiny slits, she DOES definately have the nose, head shape & jaw bones of an Orangutan type Ape, and YES--her entire back is covered with a orange/red/auburn (Orangutan color) "fur coat"! I don't mean a little fuzz---I'm talking about 2 to 5 inches in length! She is now begining to sprout a mustache and beard. Further, she is pushing 300 pounds easy, and she's only 5 feet tall. She was teased, bullied, beat up on, had things thrown at her,every comment made ("Does monkey want a banana"?) and treated un-mercifully all thru-out her school days. It is much worse than this--this is just a quick outline of her EXTERNAL APPEARANCE. This young lady has EVERY reason one can think of to be the World's Biggest Biotch! But--she ISN'T! She has a great attitude, a wonderful sense of humor, and all animals and kids--yes, I said KIDS are absolutely drawn to her like iron to a magnent! One would think that kids would be afraid of her outward appearance, since it's a well-known fact that almost all kids under the age of 3 or 4 are scared to death of clowns, but NO CHILD has ever been afraid of Suzy--they love her. She has a heart of gold, loves children, animals, the elderly/disabled, and until lately worked in the child care, and elderly/disabled/handicapped caregiver field. She has had to quit working completely now, as her spine is giving out on her, but she still tries to keep up the good attitude.
2.)---In comparison: This one we'll call "Mary".
Here we have a very pretty woman, almost 38 years old, nice figure, good job, nice car, just about anything she wants, she gets. She's been doted on, catered to (to excess)--she doesn't even do her own laundry or housework,--yep, put on the pedestal and treated like the "princess" (that she's NOT), and what type of outward personality does this one have? It varies from person-to-person, and depends on what type of "mood" she's in, but for the most-part, she has the personality of a RATTLE SNAKE! Yes, she was raised as a spoiled brat, and this just continued into adulthood. And, "Miss Princess" here doesn't even have a GED--she dropped out of school in the 9th or 10th grade.
So, here ya go, Yahz---here's 2 completely different ends of the scale for you to consider when trying to figure out the answer to this question. Let's take ME, for example--even though you somewhat know me, oh well: Yes, I am in a wheelchair now due to my spinal/hip conditions, but--ya know what? I feel that this has made a BETTER person out of me, NOT the opposite. Why? Because the power chair has allowed me the freedom of getting around my own home WITHOUT being in pain. This, in itself, improves my attitude and inter-actions with others drastically. Therefore, I have a much better attitude towards life as a whole. Sure, I could certainly use another body, but--I actually WANT to keep my same brain--nothing wrong there, I'm not even depressed. So, I guess to answer one part of your question--"if you had a different body, would you still be who you are"? YES--and I would WANT to be. I am a very friendly, out-going, humorous, caring, thoughtful person, and I wouldn't want to change any of this. I have a lot of friends (well, not too many anymore--during the past 3 or 4 years many have passd away), but I've still met even more that kind of "fill the gap". Rather than being looked down upon--especially in the supermarkets when I must use one of those electric carts--I get treated with the utmost respect by both men & women, and anybody/everybody will almost always stop to see if I need any help reaching certain items, which I do. And, of course, I'm very thankful to them.
So, in summing this whole thing up---the way I see it is: YOU have choices. For a woman, she can "choose" to be a beautiful piece of "eye-candy", and play the roll of being the helpless, brainless "damsel in distress"--you know, the "needy one" who will ALWAYS have at least 1 or 2 men falling at her feet---IF, IF--she wants to WORK that hard on being anorexic (we must stay at a size 0 to 2), (the lazier ones will resort to coke up the nose or meth to keep the weight down) which, of course, messes your whole body up, and YES these are the ones that turn out to be the Worlds biggest Biotches--the "ice princesses" and/or NO personality at all. Sure, they'll get the men--for a while, but it won't last, and never does. I could go on and on (but I think I'v done enough of this). All-in-all, Give me BRAINS AND PERSONALITY over beauty ANYTIME!! The brains & personality only ENHANCE as we get older, but the beauty fades away and you have NOTHING left but a memory. Hope this give you a little in-sight as to where I'm coming from, Yahz. I also have a Q. for you, but I'll e-mail you direct, I'm not going to post it here. Have a GREAT day! SHARON
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