BEAUTIFUL PEOPLE

My two closest Women friends are natural Blondes with stunning Blue eyes. The Men I know normally have ‘kind’ eyes. They also have good manners, are intelligent and generous with their time and knowledge. 

I consider all of these people attractive because they are kind and good and operate with honesty, and sincere interest in other people. Most of them do not consider others above or beneath them; they succeed in treating all people with general good will and openness. Who would not feel happy and privileged to be surrounded by kind, good people.

Beautiful people are not beautiful because they have the face of whatever magazine Model or Movie Actor currently appeals to the public as ‘The World’s Handsomest Man’ or ‘The World’s Most Beautiful Woman’. Instead they are the people who have a ready smile and an open heart.

Friends and lovers should always be people we like and are genuine and trustworthy people. They are also the people that give us the benefit of the doubt and live their lives openly and with goodwill towards other people.

Recently I finally saw The Wolf of Wall Street. Having worked in the financial sector for many years, I am inclined to be interested and attracted to such movies. This one however, far exceeded any swearing I ever heard on the job (which I assure you I did among traders). Considering that almost all of my working life was among Men, this movie was especially vulgar, egregiously so.

There was no God to such as these. There was Money and cheating and back stabbing and constant drug use, infidelity, decadence and corruption. Generally, they were portrayed as the most vulgar people one never hopes to meet.

Masters of the Universe (i.e. Bonfire of the Vanities) style; Inside Job (what may have been the looting the federal treasury in the United States; Rollover (great suspicion between a couple, one trying to prevent the collapse of the economy); Other People's Money about financial looters and 'green mailers' and Trading Places (the caprice of wealthy people who care nothing about destroying a man’s life over a $1.00 wager with each other). Then there was Wall Street and it’s sequel Wall Street, Money Never Sleeps with the incomparable Michael Douglas as the main character before and after his fall.

All previous financial movies pale in comparison to the decadence and corruption we are supposed to believe is a regular practice in the financial services industry a la the Wolf of Wall Street.

These are not beautiful people and we should not mistake them as appealing role models, heroes or anyone we should emulate, look up to or respect.

Of course, this is me speaking and money does not race my engine. I enjoyed the interaction with the way the world operates financially while I worked in the field in operations, in the areas of Stocks, Bonds and Commodities and Internal Audit. 

Later I encountered a lot of friends who had (by society’s standards) become ‘worth’ a lot. That is, some of them had made a lot of money since I had last seen them.

Some of these people were still nice people and generally I find, just as they always were, are helpful and courteous and, if I am to be frank, keep their claws sheathed when they interact with me. Perhaps I do not compete with them and besides I am, after all a Woman.

Even so, the world continues to be comprised of good and bad, soft and hard, ying and yang (so to speak) and we are all a mixture of character and qualities.

The people we surround ourselves with however, tell everyone what exactly you find important. The type of people you tell others are your friends and the way you behave to and around these friends, speaks volumes about who you are, what you value and generally says far more about you than your words ever will.

A wise young guy, told me when I was about 18, “Fine you tell me you are honest, but I will see you with your friends, and I will know”. It was good advice and I have always remembered it both consciously and unconsciously.

So much for the Wolf of Wall Street, even Hollywood’s gross caricature of the hated financial sector as it does not exist anywhere except in someone’s sad, sick mind.

Better to surround yourself with ‘beautiful people’ with good hearts and souls, even if sometimes you feel you are struggling because you have not perhaps behaved your best. At least, such people are not dropping mud and spewing venom and abusing and mistreating others for their own self-aggrandisement. Better to have a good example rub off on you than a bad one. 

Surround yourself with beautiful people and you have, at least, a chance of becoming one yourself.