Saturday, January 17, 2009

Modesty

After watching American Idol this week and seeing the girl audition in the skimpy bikini I started to think about modesty and how some people just don't' possess any. I asked my ten year old if she new what modesty was and she didn't really have an answer so I looked it up and showed her the definition:

Modesty is most often rendered as humility, shyness, or simplicity. The general principles of modesty include:Avoiding attracting attention to oneself by moderating one's actions or appearance;Downplaying one's accomplishments (see humility);Avoiding insincere self-abasement through false or sham modesty, which is a form of boasting.

When I saw the definition it really hit home because I have always considered myself modest but not for the reasons in the definition. I don't walk around naked or even in my underwear, I don't wear low cut shirts or string bikinis (and wouldn't even if I had the bod), I don't' like raunchy sex jokes or talking about any ones sex life... makes me blush. So to me that was being modest. However I now consider myself super duper over the top modest. I hate having attention drawn to me for good or bad reasons, I would go out of my way not to accomplish something if I knew it would draw attention to me. What is interesting to me is the people I know in my world that are not modest are also outgoing and self confident. When I think about it most of the people I surround myself with and am close to are definitely NOT modest. I actually think I am jealous of their candor and ability to put it all out there. I think it might be too late for me to shed some of my hang ups and modesty but I hope I can figure out some way to make my girls be proud of their accomplishments and self assured without turning them into the girl in the bikini on American Idol.

6 comments:

Abbi said...

i agree! great post!!!

Anonymous said...

WOW! Beth, write my memoirs, you are amazing!

Anonymous said...

Am I the girl on American Idol?!

Anonymous said...

I mean Heather P!

Anonymous said...

Are you calling me immodest? I'll try to keep my boobs covered around you!

Mariel said...

Sorry, blog stalking. Great post. I always think its so important for parents to not make comments about women's bodies..."she has a great figure", "she has no boobs", "her butt is huge", etc. Girls pick up on that stuff so easily...especially when it comes from important figures in their lives. My two cents. Thanks!