A girl we know got engaged recently. The lovely photographs were all over social media, and she retold the story of the \u201cromantic surprise\u201d proposal. There were squeally comments and \u201cweepy glees\u201d over the romantic setting and the perfection of his planning.<\/p>\n
And it\u2019s all a farce.<\/p>\n
The bride had gone with her now fiance to pick out the ring. She\u2019d been there when he picked it up from the jeweler. She\u2019d told her closest friends months ago where he was going to propose. She\u2019d helped buy the tickets for their \u201cspur-of-the-moment\u201d getaway to her dream location, shopping for a bargain on their room and transportation. She was very much a part of planning every detail, down to the perfect outfit, the perfect location, and the exactly perfect time of day for the special moment,.<\/p>\n
All captured by the professional photographer whose edited shots fill her Instagram account. It\u2019s all a play for the cameras. It\u2019s a pretty story-book tale told for their adoring public. It\u2019s something I\u2019m seeing quite a lot here lately.<\/p>\n
As my eldest daughter\u2019s friends are getting engaged, I\u2019m seeing more and more of these fake \u201csurprise\u201d engagement stories \u2013 all capped off with the picture-perfect shot of the girl exquisitely surprised by her adoring suitor.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
It\u2019s part of the trend of picturesque moments that seem to be the lifeblood of the young adults of my daughter\u2019s generation. There are no photos that aren\u2019t beautifully framed and shot. There are no photographs of un-made-up faces or imperfect impressions. Their lives seem to be filled with only Hallmark moments.<\/p>\n
All this constant striving for the appearance of perfection makes me wonder what will happen to them in those moments where perfection isn\u2019t possible. When people get sick, when \u201cperfect\u201d babies become crippled children, when spouses die to early, or cancer takes their hair. Loss and imperfections are inevitable in life, and we all struggle to carry on when they affect our lives. But what does that do to people whose scripted idyllic lives can no longer be scripted?<\/p>\n
The prevalence of social media seems to be encouraging a tendency towards a society which is based solely on how it appears to other people. If life only has the value assigned it by the opinions of everyone else, what happens to its value when it\u2019s no longer picture perfect? What does it say about their lives when no one else wants to be them any longer?<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
A girl we know got engaged recently. The lovely photographs were all over social media, and she retold the story of the \u201cromantic surprise\u201d proposal. There were squeally comments and \u201cweepy glees\u201d over the romantic setting and the perfection of his planning. And it\u2019s all a farce. The bride had gone with her now fiance […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1979,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[26,25,21],"class_list":["post-3383","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-people","tag-thinking","tag-truth"],"yoast_head":"\n