Tuesday, April 24, 2007

A Question for the Ages

Are all babies cute?

No, really, that's the question. You see, CJ and I were having a lunch date outside today, when, providentially, a young woman who I knew from college sat next to us. With her baby. To my chagrin I noticed the baby first. I was too busy looking at teeny feet to look at the mom, but once I looked up, I recognized her, said hi, and chatted a bit. Normally I would have asked to hold the baby, but I knew (through the grapevine) that she is somewhat fragile, so I satisfied myself with ogling.

CJ, however, was not satisfied. "You think that baby's cute?" He asked, incredulously. When I responded in the affirmative, he said (with some derision in his voice) "You probably think that all babies are cute." I do, actually. I am of the school of thought that all babies are cute, and all brides are beautiful on their wedding day. It is less about the way that someone actually looks, and more about their situation.


Squishy and red, but still cute.

You see, on their wedding day all brides (that I've known/seen, at least) are so happy that it is shining out of them. You can feel their joy, and I think that, that makes them beautiful. For the day, at least. Same thing with babies. They are cute, not only because of their looks, but also what they represent. New life, new hope, often the product of love, and at best an expression of it.

So all babies are cute, and I won't hear anything to the contrary.

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Wow. That is a pretty sad comment, and definitely not what I was going for in my conversation with Annie. I just want to clarify a few things here:

1. I did not initiate this conversation. It was, in fact, started by Annie saying, repeatedly, "Oooooh, that is suuuuuch a cute baby." And yes, she actually did use that many o's and u's in her sentence.

2. At no point was I incredulous. I can testify to this because I am, well, me.

3. The baby pictured in Annie's post is not cute. Look at it. We're talking somewhere between Boris Yeltsin after an 8-out-of-10 night spent with a case of vodka and an AED, and ET. The baby we saw was not as ugly. But it was not much better.

4. Of course there are ugly babies out there. If there are ugly people walking the earth, they were all once ugly babies. Or most.

5. I don't think the bride argument stands up. In order to look beautiful on her wedding day, yes a bride exhudes joy. But she also wears a perfectly-tailored, exquisite dress, gets her hair done professionally, and applies makeup so she can look just right. That, and the guy next to her is wearing a tux/suit (looking like every other guy in the room), or in many Orthodox weddings, a white bath robe. Who doesn't look better than usual in that combo. If there are ugly women, there are ugly brides.

6. To the poster above, I don't think there has yet been definitive proof either way on the G-d question. Unless I missed something. I guess I didn't read the Times yesterday...

Jack Steiner said...

No some babies are definitely not cute.

Anonymous said...

Hey!

First of all: TR, do you think that not all brides are beautiful because some girls aren't pretty, or because you dislike the institution of marriage?

CJ- I started off by saying "look at how tiny the feet are! Cute little teeny feet." Not much better, but still different.

Jack- I'm sure that you thought your own children were cute, even when they were red and squooshy.

harley said...

For the record, I do not think all babies are cute. My nephew, however, is the cutest human being to be born onto this planet in the last year and maybe ever in history. Really. No hyperbole. He is actually that cute.

Anonymous said...

I had been one of those who thought all babies were cute, until I saw my cousins baby. I felt anxiety when my cousin excitedly asked, "Isn't she cute?!". I said "she's adorable", but the poor baby was a wrinkly miniature version of her very unfortunate looking father. Not all babies are cute. Innocent and precious yes, but cute? No. But people must never EVER say this to the parents, it's against the rule...I don't know who made the rule, even so I will never break it. It would only upset the parents and make me look like a bad person if I were to give my honest opinion. I wish parent's just wouldn't ask, or foolishly assume everyone views their bundle of joy as they do.

Unknown said...

Well "Anonymous"
1.) The fact that you wouldn't put your name says one thing.
2.) I'm sure you were an ugly baby and still are.
3.) There is a God, I like how the Discovery channel tries to prove God doesn't exist, but instead every thing they say proves him right.
4.) How can you explain all the trees and frankly, the Sun.
5.)All the (Ugly Babies) and disformed and (Retarded Babies) are all ways God Shows us God loves us , and Blesses us.
6.) Pay Attention - Most (Retarded People) GO to church to WORSHIP our LORD and SAVIOR.