Typically, when someone says “If Looks Could Kill,” they are talking about someone’s physical attributes. That perfectly created masterpiece of a human specimen is so mesmerizing, that their looks could literally stop our hearts. However, there are so many other looks that could kill in a far more painful way. Here are three that I thought of. Could you think of more?
Disappointment:
Here I was in the fifth grade, “bushy-tailed and bright eyed” as they say, and his name was Andre. Copper toned with hazel brown eyes that I stared into as he wrote his number on a piece of paper and gave it to my friend to give to me. “He told me to tell you to wear something cute tomorrow,” she said as she rolled her eyes and gave me the paper. I literally had no idea what that meant. All I knew was I had his number! See I was a Grade-A Tomboy. Use to climbing trees and playing basketball with my brother and his friends. So cute to me was a polo shirt and some jeans. Maybe I could throw on my brother’s starter jacket for extra “cuteness”. I went to school that next day with a smile that even I couldn’t remove if I tried. He is definitely going to fall even more for me now. I couldn’t have been more wrong. The look on his face when I turned the corner, killed every inch of confidence in me. He was so disappointed in my look. It was the first time I had felt a feeling that I couldn’t explain. The look of disappointment can strip you of ambition, zeal, and your will to go on. It can make you second guess yourself and not in a good way. It can even strip you of self love. From that day on I knew I was different, I became a little more self-aware. I could have died that day. Maybe a little bit of the Tomboy in me died that day. But I never forgot that look.
Disgust:
Now when you think of disgust. You think of something thats repulsive. Trash even. But people give those same looks to each other. A husband who sees his wife gaining weight, a wife’s first look to her husband after she found out he cheated. The look of disgust is definitely a 12-gauge shot gun blast to the knees. Why the knees and not the chest? Because a look of disgust doesn’t kill us right off, we actually die from the “complications” that the look gives us. We start to see ourselves as repulsive, not worthy, less-than. If the look isn’t corrected not only do we start to see ourselves as such but we start to believe it. It’s a look thats non-motivating and robs us of our joy, especially if it’s not warranted. Have you ever been given that look because someone compared you to someone else and you came up short? It happens all the time. The social media age we live in constantly put people in our face that if we aren’t careful we start comparing our loved ones too. A girlfriend buys her boyfriend a Movado, and you only get a sweater. A boyfriend proposes to his girlfriend after 1 year of dating while you’re on year 3. It’s like an outfit you wear or maybe some artwork you post and to you its really good, but once you post it, people dislike it and you find yourself looking at it like maybe its less than. This doesn’t effect just lovers by the way, maybe a kid saw someones parent throw them an amazing party. Could they reason “My parents could have done that for me” and the next time they see them they give them a look of disgust? That look is torture. Slowly killing motivation and self-worth.
Betrayal:
If you’ve ever had your heartbroken before this is the mother of all kill shots. The look on her/his face when they are done fighting for whatever you have together. When they threw away what you had for something temporary. When they promised you trust and broke it for someone who isn’t even half of you. When nothing you do can save you from the inevitable. When you love someone, there is no more painful look, than the look on their face when they betray you. They don’t even have to say the words but when you look into their eyes, they give you a head shot. There’s no coming back from that pain. Sometimes time can’t even heal the pain of a heartbreak. The betrayal look says: I beat you, I lied, I didn’t care, I got over, I intentionally hurt you. At that moment when you see that look the question comes “would I really rather feel pain than nothing at all?”
So if looks could kill, what kind of murderer would you be? We tend to focus on words we say, but we can bind, torture, and kill with our looks as well. If you love someone be mindful of your facial expressions. Seems like a small thing but facial expressions effects kids and adults alike. When you promise a kid something and you don’t come thru, that look of disappointment is one you can’t get back. That look is debilitating. Maybe they don’t die physically but something does inside. It can stop the inner progress of the soul.