It's oddly comforting to see Sydney Sweeney appearing as a timeless beauty in a commercial about jeans. Something that would've been so insignificant in the 90s is like a life raft today. That cool breath of fresh air after emerging from a sweltering workshop where you'd been toiling away for hours.
As has been the popular topic of conversation, the Sweeney ad is a significant turning point in our culture. A sign that the times are a changin', and the only people who seem to be angry about it are the very people who have made it very clear that they're too insane to listen to.
Literally watching some obese, tatted up woman with more metal in her face than a steer and a haircut that looks like the stylist lost control of the buzzer tell you what is and isn't right is like taking health advice from a serial killer.
But the reason why the Sweeney ad feels comforting, and not just interesting, is because the human brain loves the sight of beauty. As I discussed in my last VIP, the human brain gets all sorts of benefits from seeing beautiful sights, and not just beautiful people. Beautiful architecture, for instance, grants a sense of place and identity. It inspires a person to know that great works are achievable and that one can be more than what they are.
Cathedrals of old were often made with such care and artistry because it helped get the message of God's power, beauty, and grace across. He wasn't just some entity in the sky, he was present and awe-inspiring, and these beautiful buildings got that message across.
It's no mistake that social dictators abhorred that beauty, unless it came to themselves. Many a dictator's residences are adorned and beautifully crafted, while the buildings that are built for the people are drab, brutalist, and uninspiring. That's not an accident. It's a form of mind control. There is no identity in these kinds of architecture, and thus, no sense of self. You are one of the faceless drones. You will exist in your space that looks like everyone else's, you will see buildings that look like every other building, and you will die having never become more because you were never shown you could be. You exist to work and obey.
Read: Society Is Ditching Its Aversion to Beauty to Spare Those Who Intentionally Lack It
But there is a different kind of beauty as well, and it's one that I'm also seeing from a surprising source.
There is a sort of social beauty in duty and self-sacrifice, and nothing exhibits both of those qualities more than parenthood. To be a parent is to sacrifice time, energy, years, and peace to bring up the future. It's tough and often heartbreaking, but it's the richest experience you can go through and for too long, I think society has been told it's nothing but a difficult slog filled with nothing but stress and anxiety for years.
To be sure, parenthood is difficult. For women, it starts with a rapidly changing body that begins behaving in annoying and often painful ways, then after that are the sleepless nights for both parents, piles of money, concerns for well-being and self-doubt about the job you're doing. Then you're chasing children around the house who are getting increasingly stronger and faster and constantly putting themselves in danger. They scream, cry, fight, have no rhyme or reason for their mood changes, and between all that you have to find ways to look after yourself, which you're not always successful with.
And that's almost the entirety of childhood... according to the internet, corporations, entertainment, and everything else on the big screen.
Yes, parenthood is a hard thing, but it's the best thing. It's hard to describe to someone who has never had a child, but all that self-sacrifice and labor is rewarding in a way nothing else is. There's always more smiles than tears, more cuddles than impromptu wrestling matches involving diapers and clothes, and most of all, there's far more purpose.
The other day I saw a celebrity — I can't remember who it was, but I was struck by the message more than the person — who said the only people he's jealous of are the ones with small children still in their home, because he'd never felt more purpose and fulfillment than when he was raising his kids. He would wake up in the morning and know he had an important duty to fulfill, and that he had zero desire to fail at it. He felt empty when the noise finally stopped and there were no messes to clean up.
The great thing about parenthood is that the journey is the victory. When the children grow and leave is actually sad. There's no crescendo, no huge ceremony, and no defining moment of success. It all just kind of stops one day. The back seat of your car is empty. There's no babbling toddler in a car seat with bits of food and toys on the floor and in between the cushions. No kid telling you what happened at school or asking you questions. Where there was life, there is now silence. Where there was purpose is just you.
You might be asking what this has to do with an ad. We started talking about Sydney Sweeney and architecture and ended up putting words to a bittersweet moment after you succeeded in bringing a child into the world and raising them to adulthood.
It's because those years of purpose and giving them to something outside yourself are the most beautiful thing of all. It's the closest we ever come to being like God, at least in activity. We create, we love, we give, and sacrifice, and all in the name of something other than ourselves. The beauty is the journey.
Which brings me to the ad in question. It came from Nike, the same ad company that sank itself into social justice so deeply that I'm still not keen on buying its products.
But it did release — what I think — is one of the most beautiful and fantastic ads I've seen in years, and I think it really puts the words I just wrote into context.
Culture is shifting.@Nike just released a pro-family ad, highlighting Scottie Scheffler’s baby son as a “win”
— Anna Lulis (@annamlulis) July 21, 2025
Children aren’t burdens—they’re blessings. pic.twitter.com/gKs2rNbutl
