Paul Little: Life can be rough for the handsome

you don't see Art complaining about the burden of going through life being ridiculously handsome, do you? Photo / Jason Oxenham

Some people have been giving the former protagonist of TV show The Bachelor a hard time because of comments reported in a recent issue of Woman's Day.

Considering the prospect of having children of his own, Art Green realised this would require access to a willing womb and bore certain ramifications.

"This meant not only thinking about who I liked and had a connection with," he mused, "but also if they had similar family aspirations. I would often think about whether or not we would have good-looking kids, because obviously nobody wants ugly kids."

Bear in mind Art, who is a personal trainer and chief operating officer of Clean Paleo, a producer of products for enthusiasts of the fashionable prehistoric eating plan, voluntarily appeared on a television show in which he was confronted with a group of single women he did not know and, by a process of elimination, had to choose one as his potential life partner.

So it's a bit rich for anyone to criticise him if he appears to be somewhat superficial in his views on anything, up to and including parenthood. Naturally, someone who is open to the prospect of a courtship taking place before a national television audience is possibly going to prioritise appearance over such qualities as intelligence, generosity, kindness, courage, honesty and good health.

But before you decide the paleo diet advocate is a few almonds short of a handful, please note there is plenty of evidence to suggest someone with such views is at least partly right.

For instance, you seldom see good-looking urchins.

Kids living on the street, rejected by their family and with nowhere to go, tend to be uncomely at best, plain ugly at worst.

They have the sort of looks that someone with Art's cheekbones should never have to encounter. Which makes it all the more imperative that we solve the problem of homelessness and get these kids off the streets.

By doing so we will be helping those who are naturally sensitive to other people's looks. We will smooth the way for people like Art - if not through life itself, at least through our streets.

And let's stop bagging him for his views. It's not his problem what people whose kids don't have perfect cheekbones, dimples, or a hair colour other than red do about it.

Parents of children who are born looking hot but then are scarred in accidents, or by cancer or develop a disfiguring physical condition deserve sympathy, of course. Life can be rough, darn it.

But you don't see Art complaining about the burden of going through life being ridiculously handsome, do you?

I fervently hope that if and when Art does have a child it has the sort of looks he can live with. But more than that, if it doesn't, I hope he will have developed the wisdom to take one look at it and love it for the person it is.

Meanwhile, in other TV reality show news, this year's contenders for Secretary-General of the UN were pitching in public, with a 10-minute presentation before the General Assembly followed by a two-hour Q & A session.

Gone are the days when someone like UThant could just waltz into the top job. Ridiculously, I wasn't invited to sit on the selection panel, but I'm happy to suggest some questions that should have been good to put to the candidates: Are you serious?

No, really?

Diversion of UN funding into the wrong hands. Any thoughts?

International terrorism. Any thoughts?

Slave labour. Any thoughts?

Isis. Any thoughts?

North Korea. Any thoughts?

The Middle East. Any thoughts?

International co-operation on climate change. Any thoughts?

Are you serious?

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