諾拉的新鼻子，From Butterfly to Betterfly?

昨天晚上就在快被電視新聞吵雜的聲音炸聾之前，突然被一則廣告拉出戰區。這麼大救苦拔難的力量是廣告中出現幾個小女孩沮喪的臉孔到後來破涕為笑的自信力量。特地注意了一下，廣告主是多芬自信基金。無獨有偶，就在這之前的幾個小時我才正為了一個小兒整形醫師的一段話困擾不已：

I wanted to show these kids that the changes they go through in the plastic-surgery ward are normal and natural," Krieg said. "It's not like getting your tonsils out. It's something to make you even better instead of just barely good enough.

Kreig 醫生說，我要讓這些小孩子知道進手術室去整形改變容貌是很正常而且自然的，那不像是把扁桃腺拿掉之類的手術，整形是為了好還要更好。

做為一個小兒整形醫師，Kreig 醫生深知小孩子對隆鼻抽脂整形手術的不安，於是寫了一本童書名稱叫做諾拉的新鼻子 "Norah's New Nose" 要來減輕小孩子的心理負擔。我把刊登在 the ONION 上的故事摘要翻譯出來：

As the book opens, Norah, a little girl who inherited her father's "generous" nose, is peering out her bedroom window at the moon.

諾拉，一個遺傳到爸爸的大鼻子的小女孩，透過臥室的窗戶凝望著月亮。

"'Good night!' Miss Moon said to Norah," the book reads. "But although the beautiful Miss Moon said good night to Norah, she said it the same way Mommy says good night to homely Miss Crabgrass or creepy old Mr. Kratch. Norah became very sad."

月亮向諾拉道晚安，但是諾拉卻覺得很難過，因為月亮向她說晚安的態度跟她媽媽對樣貌平凡的 Crabgrass 小姐或令人毛骨悚然的 Kratch 老先生問安時一樣。

Norah's mother explains to her that something is preventing Miss Moon from seeing what a pretty little girl she is—something "right in front of her face."

諾拉的媽媽跟她解釋說，「妳臉上一定有什麼東西造成月亮看不見你是多麼漂亮的小女孩。」

"It isn't Miss Moon's fault she can't see your inner beauty," Mommy gently tells Norah. "Miss Moon may be very special, but she isn't all-powerful."

「妳也不能怪月亮看不見妳的內在美，月亮不是萬能的。」

Using an enchanted mirror, Mommy shows Norah the difference between her own perfect nose and her daughter's "big, broad, bulky bird beak." Norah starts to cry, but Mommy assures her that doctors at the hospital can solve her problem, just like they solved Mommy's.

媽媽拿著魔鏡指給諾拉看她自己這麼漂亮的鼻子與女兒的大鷹勾鼻差別在哪裡。諾拉看了之後開始哭，但是她媽媽向她保證醫院的醫生一定可以幫她解決這個難題，就像當時解決媽媽的困擾一樣。

出了書，不僅 Kreig 醫生遭受到各方的評擊，我也困擾了，許多讀者恐怕也受不了這種形而上的精神打擊。

不過仔細想想，不管是多芬自信基金或是諾拉的新鼻子，只要不違法，誰能反對誰用什麼方法獲取自信，差別只是在獲得自信的持久性與物質或社會眼光依賴度罷了。

我們可以擔憂芭比世代的力量正在往下扎根集結，然而要降低小孩子自信心的社會依賴度卻不能只是坐著不去回應 Kreig 醫生所言的關鍵，「重點不在於長相好看就什麼事都解決了，而是未來充滿著需要一張漂亮臉蛋才足以應付的挑戰。」諾拉的媽媽就是消彌這種只有姣美外表才能應付的挑戰最好下手的對象，只是深怕她也是這種挑戰的受害者。