By Millicent Omollo and B. Kamary, Edited version Published in The Seoul Times – Nov. 3, 2011

 

Puffing off the smoke

Sitting at a roof balcony as I wait for my next lecture to begin, one by one they streamed in, each pulling out a cigarette. Before I knew it I was seated amongst teens – all puffing off streams of smoke into the otherwise blue skies. I have seen similar scenes before, but today’s scenario sends my mind into a wonderland; yes, I simply wondered why.

Don’t mistake me, I have nothing to do with smokers yet I am always irked by smoking itself. Would it be fair to say I detest smoking but not smokers? Yes, I love smokers but hate smoking and I am yet to know why smoking is such an attractive addiction particularly to teens. But as they say, opinion is free and facts sacred. My sentiments on the subjects are likewise freely given and freely to be taken.  Back home in Africa where I was born and raised, a cigarette advert comes along with quite a stern warning: “harmful to your health!” Who doesn’t know that? I have a friend, a medical doctor but a chain smoker, who spares no chance to warn his sons against smoking. “You better do as I say and not as I do,” he would often rumble.

Hey, did you know they now say cancer is a deadlier than HiV/Aids? I think this is where most of us would pause to care. Possibly pharmaceutical companies are better ready themselves to fund a scientist who will be genius enough to discover cure for cancer. And at rate we are going, we might not have to do a population count on.

Say you started puffing at 16. At 19, it should be dawning on you that a good early retirement plan with medical insurance is a near necessity. Well, before altering the topic, I’m told, and you can confirm this from the Smoking-Facts.Net, each day 3,000 children smoke their first cigarette so at least three million adolescents are smokers today. Again, almost all beginners try before high school graduation.

By the way, 20 percent of American teens smoke cigarettes with roughly six million of them doing it despite the knowledge that it is addictive and leads to ailment. Scary though, is that of 3,000 teens who start smoking today, nearly 1,000 will eventually die as a result from smoking. Oh, and the Surgeon’s General, says that teenagers who smoke were three times more likely to use alcohol, eight times are likely to smoke marijuana and 22 times more likely to use Cocaine. At that point I say, oops!

Cosmetics and the pursuit of satisfaction

The other afternoon, I meet this lady in the lecture room. For some reason, I was sure she had either sewn up her upper eyelids or put a stick to create some sort of illusion. To be fair, she looked beautiful. But again the thought of procedures involved in sewing up thrashed my imagination faculty into a spin.

Why would I have my eyelid sewn up? Never mind, but both the smoking and the eyelid enhancement has quite a big following in the contemporary cultures.

For a woman, beauty is somewhat a priority in many cultures.  In the days we live in, they would go extra mile to reach their satisfaction but like Dalai Lama, I wonder when human being will ever be satisfied. Asked what surprised him most about humanity, the Dalai Lama said, “Man. Because he sacrifices his health in order to make money. Then he sacrifices money to recuperate his health. And then he is so anxious about the future that he does not enjoy the present; the result being that he does not live in the present or the future; he lives as if he is never going to die, and then dies having never really lived.” Should this be true, then as King Solomon of the ancient Hebrew remarked, it could be all ‘useless… like chasing the wind.’

Well, I do know of friends who would stop at nothing for a better outlook. Hip replacement, breast enlargement, Botox, plastic surgery so far the trademark of “the way to beauty.”  It is believed that three quarters of these is practiced by women primarily for self-gratification or other reasons best known to them.

My coming to East Asia, Korea to be specific, cosmetics industry and demand for cosmetic surgery have never stopped startling. I bet for every five shops in a youth dominated street, two are cosmetic shops! Could this be telling about a culture’s perspective on beauty?

Cosmetic surgery in Africa is still very much minimum, in most parts, it is practically none existent. There are reasons for that. Surgery for aesthetic goal is pretty costly. In Africa too, there are more pressing challenges to focus on than things perceived as pursuit for leisure and pleasure.  But this doesn’t mean a Kenyan girl, for instance, cannot undergo the scalpel procedure. Some do, and no doubt the desire for it exist as well. A few are known to wanting a lighter skin pigment and would do some ‘bleaching’. The cases remain few and the demand is minimal compared to Korea where beautifying surgery is more of personal preference than medical.

One thing that seems sure is that demand for cosmetic surgery comes with economic development. It could be embedded on culture, but largely human beings seem to be driven up in a certain satisfaction ladder. You probably guessed right that Abraham Maslow’s “hierarchy of needs” can be a reality.

Maslow developed a visual aid in form of a pyramid to explain his theory depicting the levels of human needs, psychological and physical. He argued that when a human being ascends the steps of the pyramid he reaches self-actualization but first he has to satisfy his basic needs or physiological needs; food, water and sex.

Did I mention that men too are joining in cosmetics arena like never before? I doubt whether this is solely an East Asian thing. I used to think men had nearly similar worries worldwide but, boy, I am wrong. I have seen on countless occasions Korean young men somewhat apprehended about their hair and face. Some carry hand bags not so different from ladies’ and in there are a pack of makeup and face powder. I see it so often right under my nose in lecture rooms.

Back home, African men would worry more about their dress code than their hair. One’s dressing code to an extent dictates one’s friends, who they date, and the kind of group they flock together. If you met a typical African man applying make-up on his face, you’ll probably have entered his hideout – possibly in the lavatory!

Millicent Omollo serves as Staff Writer for The Seoul Times. She majoredin Physical and Health Education at Kenyatta University, Kenya but currently undertaking studies at ChungAng University, Seoul. She can be contacted at [email protected]

Benson Kamary is a freelance journalist and a Ph.D. candidate at Kosin University. He can be reached at [email protected]