Which one of the characteristics is more important to have in a person? Beauty or intelligence? It's such a tricky question for some people. Many people have a hard time deciding which whether beauty or intelligence is important to have in a person.
Last weekend, I was at a family party. I played a questions card game with my cousins. We were asked: "Would you rather be an attractive, but dumb person or smart, but unattractive person?"
Interestingly, I was one of the two people out of seven who said that I would rather be smart, but unattractive. I’m referring stupid to people with learning disabilities because I do not believe they’re necessarily stupid. Instead, I’m talking about people who value attractiveness and money over education and inner beauty. I have never understood why some people believed that looks were more important than brains. I have never been a superficial person. Instead, I would rather get to know people based on their personalities than their looks.
A lot of people tend to overestimate their own and other people's looks. They tend to expect good-looking people to be nice, successful, smart, and able to find a significant other. Other people tend to perceive good-looking people negatively as stuck-up, condescending, unintelligent, and entitled. Judging a book by its cover never works.
For example, a lot of people praise the Kardashians for being affluent, attractive, and reality stars. Despite being one of the most talked about celebrities, they are still famous for no reason. There is no purpose to what they did to become famous.
“Legally Blonde” is another example about attractiveness vs intelligence. Elle Woods, played by Reese Witherspoon, was a gorgeous and bubbly valley girl. Despite being stereotyped as a dumb blonde, she takes the LSATs and scores a 179. Although Elle struggled with people judging based on her looks, she discovered that she was smarter than she thought and is more capable of being a great lawyer. Like Elle said in her graduation speech, first impressions are not always correct. What she means is that an impression you person make based off another one's appearance is accurate because judgement can impair you perception and it limits your ability to get to know the real person.
You can meet an attractive person, but still be unimpressed because he or she is one of the dumbest people you have ever met. You can meet an average looking person and admire his or her personality.
The reason intelligence is more important than attractiveness is because intelligence impacts your life, makes you wiser, and allows you to be not only successful in your career, but a successful human being as well. Intelligence allows you to survive in your worst situations, helps you understand who you are and what you want, and motivates you to work towards your goals.
Attractiveness is appreciated temporarily, but intelligence will be appreciated forever. Good looks fade over time, but intelligence will never fade because it stays in your mind forever. You can fix your looks if you want to by getting plastic surgery (I don't recommend) or put on makeup, but you can never fix stupid.
Beauty may be dangerous, but intelligence is lethal.
