There's a line in a song: "They got a name for the winners in the world; I want a name when I lose." "Deacon Blues," from the album AJA, sung by Steely Dan, produced by Gary Katz (Universal City, Calif.: MCA Records Inc., 1977) The line seems to be voicing a rebellion that many may experience—a rebellion against the notion that the world's opinions determine our worth. Some might seek to escape from the limitations of society's labels in an alternative lifestyle only to find an equally limiting set of values. Others might feel frustrated at the great deal of time and thought they spend in trying to be a winner in others' eyes. And then there are those who give up in despair of ever having a name, a proper sense of worth and identity.
Media images constantly suggest
that if we don't look a certain way,
we are pretty much a nobody.
As long as we believe ourselves to be physical personalities and separated from God, we will be subject to false and limiting notions that belittle our worth. One of these false notions is the belief that an individual's worth is dependent on physical appearance. In her book published in the early 1990s, The Beauty Myth, Naomi Wolf describes the immense burden that women can feel in trying to live up to a certain stereotyped model of what it means to be a beautiful woman. For example, she says, "During the past five years . . . thirty-three thousand American women told researchers that they would rather lose ten to fifteen pounds than achieve any other goal." The Beauty Myth (London: Vintage, 1991), p.10 And, of course, it is not just body weight that occupies thought; all aspects of appearance—complexion, facial structure, hair, clothes—can assume inordinate importance if they are equated with one's worth.
