Flawless and Timeless Beauty !

I received an email from my brother-in-law, Joseph Teoh, from Melbourne. It was his very first email to me whereby he had forwarded a slide show on Audrey Herpburn. I was a little amused when someone had put the title as "Audrey Herpburn - the Truest Beauty." We cannot blame whoever had put the adjective as "truest", for after all, we have hard, harder hardest. Since true is only a one syllable word, why can't it follow the pattern of true, truer, truest.? I guess, logically if something is already true, it is absolute and final. This is why I dislike churches with names like, "The True Jesus Church", implying that other churches must have false Jesus and that the church is the only one with the true God!! It is interesting how when we try to use too many superlatives in our lives, we lose our attractiveness and authenticity.

Hence, you can see how words have within them so much connotation and emotion? Feelings can be aroused by words....hence this is how important words are in our lives. This is why, as a Language teacher, I would always coax all my students to make it a point to master whatever language they are studying, so that they can be happier people. Language for mental health! Especially in the English Language, where words abound in richness and beauty.

Now back to Audrey Herpburn. I enjoyed the slides and the wordings. Audrey Herpburn is one of my favourite actresses and I still remember her role as Eliza Doolittle in "My Fair Lady". I saw this movie about 80 times, but only paid the price of one movie ticket, because every year, I would show the taped movie to my students after their term or final exams in River Valley High School and Anglo Chinese School (Independent). I naturally remembered most of the lyrics and script and still remember them to this day!!

As I do not know how to put slides in my blog, I will just write out the words of Audrey Herpburn so that my readers will be encouraged. However if any readers would like to have the beautiful slides of Audrey, do email me and I can forward to you.

When Audrey was asked for her secret of beauty and timeless elegance, she said,

"For beautiful eyes, look for the good in others;
For beautiful lips, speak only words of knowledge and encouragement;
For a slim figure, always share your food with the hungry;
For beautiful hair, let a little boy or girl stroke it at least once a day.

For poise, walk with the knowledge that you are never alone.

People, even more than things, have to be restored, renewed, revived, reclaimed and redeemed; never throw out anyone.

Remember, if you ever need a helping hand, it is at the end of your arm.

As you get older, remember you have another hand. The first is to help yourself, and the other is to help others.

A woman's true beauty is not in her figure, in the way she dresses, in the clothes
she wears, or in the way she does her hair.

A woman's beauty is seen in her eyes, because they are the windows to her soul, the
place where love dwells.

A woman's true beauty increases with age.

A woman's true beauty is reflected in her soul, in her kindness and loving care, and in the passion she shows.

It's that wonderful old fashioned idea that others come first and you come second.
This was the whole ethics by which I was brought up. Others matter more than you do, so don't fuss dear, get on with it.

Cheers to timeless beauty and elegance!

Gan Chau