To
the eyes of young Julia, age 10, everyone looked beautiful. Julia
looked beautiful. Her mother and father looked beautiful. All of the
adults Julia had ever seen looked beautiful. All of the teachers and
children at Julia's school looked beautiful. Julia could never recall
seeing a face that did not look beautiful.
Julia
wore glasses, and her mother had given her a very specific warning
about wearing glasses. Julia's mother had told her that if she ever
took off her glasses while her eyes were open, Julia would instantly
go blind. Julia's mother said that this was because of radiation in
the air, which the glasses blocked. Julia had heard many times the
story of Uncle Dave, who one day took off his glasses with his eyes
open, only to find himself instantly blinded for life.
These
stories had scared Julia into always closing her eyes whenever she
took off her glasses.
One
day Julia was at school walking down a hallway. A workman was
carrying a steel pole, and accidentally smashed the pole into the
side of Julia's glasses. The blow damaged a small electronic unit
on the outer part of Julia's glasses.
“I'm
sorry, kid,” said the workman. “Are you hurt?”
Julia
looked at the workman. She had never seen such a face before. The
face looked fiendishly ugly, with the features hideously distorted.
Julia
shrieked and ran down the hall. Then she saw another equally ugly
face. It was the face of a woman who looked like her face was melting
away.
Turning
in the other direction, Julia saw two other faces that were equally
horrifying. Julia ran out the door. She decided to go home to tell
her mother about this terrifying experience.
On
the street Julia saw two faces as horrifying as the faces she had
seen at the school. Finally the young girl made it back to her house,
which was near the school.
“Mommy!”
shrieked Julia, running through the door. “There are monsters at my
school!”
Julia
came into the living room and looked at her mother. There was the
same body, the same clothes; but the face was hideously different.
Her mother now looked like some monster in a freak show.
Julia
screamed. She didn't know what to do. She ran up to her room, and
locked the door. She fell on her bed and began weeping. She thought
to herself: am I losing my mind?
Julia's
mother came to the door, and knocked on it. “Let me in, Julia,”
she said.
“What
have you done with my mother?” Julia asked.
“I
am your mother, Julia,” Mom explained. “I just look
different. Why don't you do this. Just unlock the door, go to your
bed, and close your eyes. Then I'll explain everything.”
Julia
tearfully did as her mother instructed. Then her mother began her
explanation.
“In
the world you have known, Julia, everyone looks beautiful,” said
Mom. “But it didn't use to be that way. Once there was a world
where some people were beautiful, some people were average looking,
and some people were ugly. But then one day a terrible thing
happened. A star near our sun exploded. It was an event called a
supernova explosion. That explosion caused lots of gamma ray
radiation to hit our planet. And that radiation caused what is known
as mutations, which means changes in people's genetic makeup.”
“The
next generation that was born after the supernova was a generation of
mutants,” explained Mom. “And that generation was very ugly
because of the mutations. I am part of that generation. I am a
mutant. You are also a mutant, and so is everyone you have ever
seen.”
“But
if everyone in the world is an ugly mutant,” asked Julia, “how
come everyone always looks beautiful, except for today?”
“It's
your glasses,” explained Mom. “Your glasses are what they call
augmented reality glasses. That's a fancy term meaning there's a
little computer on the right edge of your glasses. When you see an
ugly face, the computer modifies what you see through your glasses,
so that every ugly face you see is covered up by a beautiful face.
That way you see only beautiful faces through your glasses."
“Your
glasses look damaged, and my guess is that something must have gone
wrong with them today,” said Mom. “But don't worry. We have a
backup pair.”
Mom
fetched the backup pair of glasses, and brought them to the child.
She took off the child's damaged glasses, and replaced them with the
backup pair of glasses.
“Now
open your eyes, and I'll be the same old Mom you know and love,”
said Mom.
Julia
opened her eyes, and saw her mother looking as beautiful as ever.
The
next day Julia had a question for her mother.
“So
let me check if I have this right,” said Julia. “We're all
mutants, and if you see us without glasses, we look hideously ugly.
But everyone wears augmented reality glasses, so everyone looks
beautiful to everyone else.”
“That's
right,” said Mom.
“So
what are we really – ugly or beautiful?” asked Julia.
“Imagine
if it was before the supernova, and some hideous aliens came and saw
the most beautiful couple in the world,” said Mom. “Those slimy
hideous aliens would probably say the couple was really ugly, just
because they would have a different standard of beauty. So beauty is
really all about being perceived as beautiful. And we are perceived
as beautiful, because everyone sees us as beautiful when they wear
their augmented reality glasses. So therefore we really are
beautiful.”
“Now
the most beautiful Mom in the world needs a hug from the most
beautiful kid in the world,” said Mom.
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