Here’s to a Beautiful New Year

By Janice Lane Palko

Personal beauty is a greater recommendation than any letter of reference - Aristotle.

It’s that time of the year when we make New Years resolutions. If you’re like me, most of mine involve some aspect of my physical being—you know, lose weight, eat better, get more sleep, etc. However, as I contemplated all that this year, I was reminded of a time in my life when I learned that it’s also important to make resolutions to be a more virtuous person because beauty is more than skin deep. 

More than four decades ago, I got my first real job with for a major corporation, and I was hired to work for someone we will call “Handsome Hank.” Hank was movie-star good-looking, blue-eyes, muscular, and well-dressed. The women in the building swooned over him, and I felt lucky to be working with such a good-looking guy. 

It was also during that time, that I occasionally saw a woman in my building coming and going on the elevators, we’ll call her Bumpy Beth. She caught my eye because she was disfigured; she had neurofibromatosis, sometimes called “elephant man’s disease.” Beth was covered in tumors, making her skin from her fingers to her face look like a crispy Klondike. I used to think, “that poor girl.” 

Several years later, Beth was transferred into my department, and we became friends. 

Over time, Hank eventually revealed himself to be a narcissist, and my opinion of him gradually fell. It hit rock-bottom when one day I overheard him giving intimate details of his recent date with a girl to some other men in the office, belittling and demeaning his date’s appearance. His beauty faded before my eyes like the highlights he used have put into the tips of his blond hair. 

Beth and I collaborated on many projects, and as we got to know each other better, she revealed herself to be funny, generous, kind, and considerate. In fact, when I had my twins, she sewed them matching layettes. 

The tumors that I saw first eventually faded in my sight, and I didn’t see them anymore. She was just Beth. 

Handsome Hank looked good on the outside but like a “whited sepulcher” he was filled with rot on the inside. Beth, conversely, was disfigured physically but was beautiful on the inside.

So, as I contemplate New Year’s resolutions, in addition to setting some physical objectives, I’m reminded by the contrast between Hank and Beth that I need to work on my interior self as well because ugly goes right to the bone. And if you believe that there is an afterlife, like I do, we’re eventually going to vacate this mortal coil, and the only thing we’re taking with us is our virtues and goodwill.