Back in December Liz wrote a post that made me smile. I was on the verge of writing some musings on this myself, and her post gave me a lot to think over.
It seems that a great deal of the time when we women are impressed with the responsibility that our beauty entails, it's brought down to the level of merely dressing modestly so that we don't tempt men. When I say 'merely' I don't mean, of course, that modesty isn't a wonderful thing. But to say that our only responsibility is to cover our beauty so that we don't lead others into temptation... well, I think that's shortchanging things a bit, and that the beauty of a woman goes beyond the physical and her responsibility is beyond merely avoiding an exterior appearance of evil.
The beauty of a woman is also in her feminine character, and her responsibility is not just to avoid evil but to do good.
"A true lady has the ability to lift, inspire and ennoble a good man toward chivalry, gentlemanly ideals and greatness itself," says Lord Scott in the letter that Liz posted.
This is our gift and our responsibility. We see an example of the influence of a good and holy woman every time we see a man who rededicates his life and death to God through the influence of the Blessed Virgin.
And it seems to me that we make a mistake when we think that the best way to live up to this responsibility is to hold the men around us to high standards, and then tell them the best way to do things and criticize them when, in our eyes, they 'fail.'
We do better to hold ourselves to high standards, and to practice the virtues that make us good woman. Our responsibility is to lay a burden on men; it's to face our own faults and failings and refine ourselves so we become women that they will fight for. The gift is ours, and so is the responsibility to use that gift for the good.
I'm so glad my post was a blessing to you Clare. :)
ReplyDeleteI definitely was inspired by how Elizabeth Bennet's low opinion of Mr. Darcy ended up influencing him to change. I also like to ponder that perhaps the men in our lives take notice of us more than we think, and we do actually influence them by our dress, manner, and inner beauty. Thinking about this definitely makes me feel a lot more confident of myself, and so glad I am a young woman.
For some reason, my nature is to argue and try to get the upper hand (especially when talking with young men). But, clearly, this doesn't help them in any way -- it could hurt them! I'm trying to change my way of speaking and behaving so as to bring them up, rather than draw attention to their short comings. I certainly wouldn't want them to talk about all my faults!
--Liz B