I am white trapped in a brown body.

A European friend of mine came to visit me and commented once, “What’s with all these whitening products on the grocery shelves?”

“Whiter underarms!” “Flawless white skin in 7 days”, ” two tablets a day for one month and you will be at least 2 shades lighter” white white white.

“Can’t these ladies be happy with their color?”, says my friend.

I can only mutter a reply as I am somewhat guilty in some ways. She went on and on telling me that in Europe women would pays thousands just to have a Filipina’s color. In my mind I said ” yeah, and we would pay thousands to have your color.“

Let’s face it, majority of us are guilty of feeling that we are white trapped inside a brown body. It may not be your face that you want fairer, but it could be your skin that you want lighter, or your teeth.

Everybody is guilty of not being content what what they are born with. I’m wrong? Then look deep, don’t we want to erase the fine lines in our eyes? If our hair turns to gray, don’t we want it black? Do I need to talk about cosmetic procedures? Botox, Liposuction, implants  anyone?

The thing is, we are vain. We are never content with what we have and what we are. Contentment amidst the pressure of society is near impossible.

Contentment is a daily thing for we have eyes that wander and see the things we don’t have. Contentment is something that we learn…slowly. But this is something that we can learn.

Although Apostle Paul’s context is different from our topic but we can see that indeed contentment can be learned.

I am not saying this because I am in need, for I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances. Philippians 4:11

I am not saying that I am gong to shun those whitening products forever, but I am learning to take pride in the color that God has given…for now.