Oxthink

Most of the time, you hardly notice other people. You will just walk past them in the street. Even for the dedicated people-watcher, the vast majority of those surveyed are quickly overlooked and soon forgotten.

Plain, ordinary and common make them uninteresting and unremarkable.

But every so often, you will see someone who captures your attention. Even in a crowd, they can be the one that you are drawn towards. There is something about them that catches your eye, that makes them stand out, that makes them special.

In this instant, that specialness is not about them having an affliction, disfigurement or oddness that attracts your attention, making you stare at them. This is about the opposite extreme, which can be equally mesmerising.

Sometimes we are drawn to someone of exceptional beauty. Rarely, because there aren’t many of them about, it will be to someone who displays a full beauty package; when everything about them is wonderful, their features complement each other to produce an enchanting manifestation of beauty.

More likely, though, we will pick up on a singular, isolated feature that someone has. In their multitude of attributes, a person may have one standout quality that makes them that extra bit special; that extra bit more absorbing.

It might be their eyes, their lips, their cheekbones….. It could be any part of them.

This feature is the first thing you see when you look at them. It becomes the only thing you see when you look at them. It becomes the only thing that you want to look at. And, captivated, you can’t stop looking at it. You can’t stop looking at their standout beauty.

As you stare, transfixed by what you see, you might not even be able to pinpoint what makes this attractive feature so alluring; what gives it a compelling beauty. There is just something about it. It is both magnetising and hypnotising.

In its appeal, there may be no sexuality or desire. It’s more one of fascination and admiration. Like observing a work of art, it’s a thing of beauty, something to be looked at and appreciated.

As others get forgotten, this feature, this person becomes etched in your mind.

To see hundreds – possibly thousands – of people in a day and yet one individual, one individual’s feature can stand out from them all. That is something very special.

It may be that this person’s standout feature is more attractive because it is surrounded by the ordinary, both in terms of the rest of that person’s features and by the other people around them. When everything else is quite average, it doesn’t take much to be above and beyond.

But surely it has to be more than this. There will always be gradations when we measure quality – some will be rated more highly than others. The difference here is when we see something that is so much better than anything else – that stunning, exceptional beauty, a beauty that we can be fixated by.

Presented with such a strong sensation, it does make you wonder. Are others drawn to this one distinctive thing of beauty as we are? Do they see it as we do? Do they recognise its beauty as we do? Do they experience the same captivation as we do?

You also question whether those who do have such an attractive feature are aware of their gift. Do they know just how good this quality is? Do they know how useful it could be? Do they seek to maximise their impact? Do they know how to flaunt it?

And then, perhaps, our suspicions are aroused. Is it for real? Could something that special really exist? Or are we being hoodwinked by good make-up application, clever clothing choices and well-honed mannerisms and behaviours that emphasise a particular feature?

If you can contrive such a conspicuous feature, it is usually worth the effort. It’s generally good to be able to stand out from the crowd. Having such a quality makes you more memorable. It makes getting a job, finding a romantic partner, and getting anything you want easier.

With such potential gains, some may be tempted to create standout attributes. Hair can be styled to make it distinctive and attractive; lips can be plumped with Botox; eyelashes can be curled and enhanced with mascara; a shapely figure can be highlighted with the right clothing; cosmetic surgery can reshape our bodies.

And yet, despite people’s efforts, such endeavours are not always all that successful. We can usually see through the contrivance. In our efforts to create beauty, it can look artificial, false and man-made. It lacks the quality, essence and purity of Nature’s productions. It’s just very difficult for us to outdo nature.

We may also hold different views on what we consider beautiful. One person’s take on it may be very different from somebody else’s. There is no single defining description of what beauty is. Even ugliness can have a mesmerising beauty. It is, after all, in the eye of the beholder.

So, although a standout feature may be spell-binding for me, to others, it may be considered as nothing special.

That is what gives us all hope; that to somebody, somewhere, each of us may be endowed with some eye-catching quality. The trouble is that, as yet, I haven’t noticed anybody staring at me; I haven’t noticed anybody fixating on me or any of my features.