Ugly Beauty

There's a new television show beginning this week. ABC has been promoting it for several weeks as a highlight of its new fall line-up. It's called "Ugly Betty." This morning's Spokesman-Review featured a profile about the actress who plays the part along with details highlighting the show's premise.

Betty has thick eyebrows and wears braces and glasses. All can be dealt with easily by varying removal processes, and "surprise, surprise," the real actress is a very pretty lady. The producers worked on her to make her an ugly plain Jane---er-Betty. The show promises that through the weeks ahead, viewers will forget the urge to have Betty turn pretty because her inner beauty takes over as she deals with day-to-day situations and the people associated with them.

If it were only so for the rest of us. I think the idea behind "Ugly Betty" hits a chord with many of us who have lived lives not so endowed with good shapes, good looks or the good fortune that comes from the first two.

I always wanted to be pretty, and I know that I can surely pinpoint many occasions throughout life where I felt "dismissed" because I lacked the outward beauty and grace of other females around me. It's for others to judge whether there's truly inner beauty within this old frame of mine.

I think we live in a world that constantly reminds us that physical appearance defines us and often makes a profound difference in our success. We are too often judged immediately by our looks. We've all seen too many cases where the better-looking folks among us tend to get the positive attention and the breaks from the folks who make a difference.

And, we've seen just as many occasions where those of us Plain Janes or Ugly Betty's simply get ignored. This happens in all dimensions of life: seeking the opposite sex, seeking a job opportunity, even seeking recognition while socializing. I know what it's like to be a wallflower. I'm sure I'm not alone.

After many well-oiled wallflower years, I was fortunate enough to meet a man with a beautiful inner soul who didn't give a rip that I wasn't the sexiest woman alive. He cared more about the contents inside the flab and what was ticking inside the big boned, big butted, plain-talking but outgoing North Idaho hick.

Literally, through thick and thin, we've grown to appreciate each other for personal dimensions having nothing to do with outward appearance. Well, once in a while we will alert each other if there's food dribbling down the side of our respective faces.

As one who regards and appreciates beauty as both skin and soul deep, I'm looking forward to watching "Ugly Betty" and seeing how she's portrayed throughout the weeks ahead. The program has great potential for dramatically illustrating one of the ugly truths of this world.

Moreover, I'm betting that its weekly stories will create a keen awareness that there's more ugly beauty making a positive difference in this world than Pretty Betty's.