I had to bite my tongue to keep from contradicting the speaker. I could not believe that in this day and age a woman would have the audacity to stand before a group of professionals and declare that women "shouldn't dare to leave home without make-up, not even if it is a quick run to the grocery store". To make matters worse she went on to say that men just needed to splash water on their faces and they were good to go, but not women. I was outraged, to put it mildly.

I could not believe that in spite of all the advances women have made, somebody was getting paid to tell me that I am not good enough and that I need to "put on my face" in order for society to accept me. And sadder still was the fact that most of the other women in attendance were nodding in agreement to her ridiculous statements. They had simply chosen to sit back and accept this discourse on their "ugly position of inferiority". She was literally telling them "forget your brain; it's all about how to paint on a pretty face".Society has been fooling women for centuries with the idea that in order to be regarded as beautiful, you need to invest money in jars, tubes, sticks and bottles.

A woman I know wakes up long before her entire household to greet them with her make-up in place. She is afraid they would love her less if they saw her as she really is. I can't criticize her for this decision, but I feel really sorry that she hasn't found acceptance in those closest to her. And so we bombard our young girls with the idea that if they want to be pretty and popular they need to put on a mask, and we neglect to tell them the truth, namely that it doesn't really matter what the outside looks like, it's what is in the heart that counts. Haven't we heard hundreds of stories of good-looking people who lost opportunities because of a bad attitude? And don't we all know at least one really gorgeous woman who loathes herself to the point that she treats everybody else like dirt?

It's time we understood that success, self-respect and self-esteem have nothing to do with how many different colors you can paint over your eyes, neither does it have anything to do with getting the perfect shade of lipstick. It's all about the heart. It's being able to love and accept others regardless of how different to us they might be. It's about treating others with love and respect in all circumstances, it's about forgiveness and benevolence and thankfulness and authenticity.Whatever you choose to do to your face is nobody's business, really. But women need to be told that it is ok to be natural. And they should in no way be judged or rejected because of their choices. That old adage "don't judge a book by the cover" is still true today. As a society we seem to be constantly on the look out for ways in which to discriminate and label each other. Don't you think it's high time we realized that beauty isn't found in a jar?