I’m going to write a little about moles here. Not the scary kind that works at the bank. I mean the scary kind that grows on your skin.
Moles terrify me. I’m American, after all. Jenny and her Filipino brethren don’t seem to relate to this fear. They accept moles for what they are.
A major cultural difference Jenny and I have noticed is how our people react to moles. In the Philippines they treat it like a big friendly freckle. In the US, you’ve got cancer and you will die soon so you should probably do whatever you can to remove it.
I did notice moles were a lot more common on Filipinos when I visited. It’s probably because they are a lot closer to the sun. People in the US aren’t as noticeably mole-ish as we prefer to have them removed for cosmetic reasons. Who could ever love someone with a mole on their face?
Americans tend to be quite vain. As much as we say we hate our moles for health reasons, vanity plays a bigger part. Nobody wants to look like a chocolate chip cookie. When you have multiple moles, this is what happens. This is particularly troublesome in the US as we have no self-control with food. Jenny is amazed at how many things here are individually packaged. In the Philippines, rice is wrapped with a damn banana leaf and not future trash.
Related to moles (I think they’re cousins) are warts. These are as equally acceptable in Filipino culture as moles are. Just you try to make a friend with a wart anywhere on your body in the US. You’re doomed for a lifetime of loneliness the moment one sprouts up.
Surely there are malformations that people in America have which would frighten those in the Philippines. The only one I can think of immediately is obesity. We kind of just accept the extremely overweight in the US. My guess is the Filipino people wouldn’t be as welcoming to someone the size of an island even with their hospitable nature.
Just to make sure I’m not talking out of my ass, I asked Jenny how often people in the Philippines will call a mole a “beauty mark.” She said never. This further fuels the fire that Americans want to ignore the fact that they have something gross growing off of their face.
Neither Jenny or I have any moles on our faces. I suppose this makes us quite lucky, in a way. We’re in America right now where we’ve had more reality show hosts nominated as president than ones with moles. And before you go saying Abraham Lincoln had a mole on his face, remember scientific evidence has proven it was actually a poop smear.
TWO BEES in a BLOG 
This was a very unpleasant, unkind and revealing article about ignorance. Let me enlighten you. I am from the old-wives tale, well-mannered and respectful generation from the Philippines. I was born in the 60s and I have a medium sized mole right in the center of my nose. It has the perfect symmetry on my face. The older generation says that it is a sign of luck. A sign of prosperity and wealth. This is where arranged marriages were defined. I did not feel inferior at all because of its cultural significance. I feel that people with moles need to use foundation but most are poor and could not afford it. Food was priority at least to eat once a day. I know that people with moles were extremely bullied. I am now in the United States and with foundation it is less noticeable. People I talked to looked at my eyes first, then “my beauty mark.” I am not lucky but I am fortunate because I am not poor. I make my own luck. My husband loves me more, has money (different from rich) and so I am not found wanting anything. I get my luxuries according to my budget. My current hobby is travelling to the “Best of ______”. Best of Italy, Best of Greece, etc. Also, I have no debt. Mole is very aligned to prosperity.
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