What Casanova Can Teach Us

[Perhaps it would have been more appropriate to publish a note on this theme on the 14^th, but here it is, better late than never].    

            Giacomo Chevalier de Seingalt Casanova, the man known to the world simply as "Casanova," was the proverbial lover, and a prolific writer who recorded his amorous adventures for later generations to read.  Although he was not a man most honorable men would think of as a role model, there is one lesson we can learn from his life, and how he lived it.  That lesson is simply this truth: every woman is lovely, and needs to be loved.

            This was the secret, we are told, of Casanova's amorous success.  He treated each woman as if she were indeed, the loveliest woman in the world; for, for him, for the moment, she was.  His error was not in viewing each woman as lovely, but in the fact that he understood love only in purely carnal terms.  if we avoid this mistake, perhaps we can learn something from the vision of a man who could perceive the glory of the feminine far better than most.

            I say it again: the lesson here is that every woman is lovely.  The reason this is not seen is simple: each woman is taught to doubt her beauty.

            Think of it.  If a girl has beautiful brown eyes and chestnut colored curls, she will be taught by the world to believe that only blond hair and blue eyes are beautiful.  If she is not given the traditional "curvaceous figure," then she is certain that that is the figure she must have to be beautiful.  Meanwhile, those who have those curves are taught to see themselves as too curvy, overweight, etc. (doubt this?  Talk to a few of the women in your life).

            The redhead with the adorable freckles?  Or the girl with the raven locks and the alabaster skin?  Surely they will think they need to be more tan to be beautiful.  The petite girl over there?  She thinks the minimum height for real beauty is 5'10.  That tall drink of water that reminds you of Gina Davis (or whatever other tall actress you may favor)?  She thinks she's gawky, even as the men gawk at her.

            If her smile is her glory, she will become convinced her teeth are not perfect, or her mouth is too big, or her gums are too prominent.  If she does not think this—you may depend upon it—sooner or later someone will come along to make this criticism.  Rest assured, wherever a woman's beauty lies, there will the doubt be planted.

            I have not even spoken of "inner beauty," as opposed to more exterior shows, because the dichotomy is a false one.  Inner and outer beauty are linked, like body and soul.  Inner beauty does manifest on the outside, while outer beauty without its inner complement—well, that is how beauty becomes vain.

            So, ladies, remember: you are beautiful.  But your beauty must arise from your being yourself, not someone else.  Big or small, short or tall, your glory is your own, and blossoms from within; it cannot be imposed from without by imitation of others.

            And, men: do not forget the lesson.  Every woman is beautiful.  Our mission is to call forth that beauty in each woman by showing her the love she needs and deserves.  How do we do this?  That, I am afraid, is not something I can explain, for it is the glory of a woman to possess beauty, while it is the glory of a man to call it forth, and I am tempted to say that each man's method is his own.  That, my brothers, is what each of us must learn.