There were incidents of course. One morning they found that someone had spray painted ‘ONLY SKIN DEEP’ across the front doors. They quickly had it removed but not before some pictures were taken. One of them ended up on the cover of the tabloids.

Lydia laughed the entire thing off. It was an obvious comment and she was surprised that it hadn’t happened earlier. When she was interviewed by the media, she simply said that the vandal didn’t really understand what they were trying to do.

She said that they weren’t trying to promote ‘beauty’ as the best of all things. The Temple was there merely as a means to celebrate it. Recognizing one virtue didn’t mean you were condemning all the others, did it?

This led pundits and talking heads from all over the city to speculate on the role that ‘beauty’ should play in everyday life. When the New York media starts talking about something, it’s only a matter of time before it becomes a national conversation.

Lydia couldn’t have been happier. They were talking about her Temple, after all. Controversy had a way of selling tickets. She could picture people from all over the country reading about this and deciding to visit the place and see for themselves. If she could only keep it going somehow, it would mean even more publicity.

Then the idea struck. She could sponsor a contest. She’d have people from all over write in to the Temple, explaining why ‘beauty’ is important! Each entry would be judged and they’d select some winners. They could host an award ceremony right there in theater. It was a perfect idea.

Ideas came in from all over the world. They were almost all around the theme of enriching life. There were a few that took a more cynical approach and suggested that beauty was just a way to keep the powerful in hand. A few men wrote that it was there for their own personal satisfaction.

Lydia had her staff read through the entries and winnow them down so that they could select a winner. She also got together with her marketing people so that they could figure out what regions to take winners from. It was decided that at least one should be from Europe, preferably from France. They should also pick a West Coaster and probably one from a child that lived right in New York.

It was easy enough to find the winners. A man in France suggested that beauty inspired his life and he didn’t know what he’d do without it. A lady from Oregon had written a poem about the beautiful things she saw outside of her window and how it was a gift from God. A little girl from Brooklyn wrote about how beautiful her mother was. All sure fire winners.

Lydia sat back at her desk and reflected on how much good publicity they’d end up with when this was done. All because some wacko decided to try and ruin everyone else’s fun by spray painting something on her Temple. She hoped that somewhere they appreciated the irony. Too bad she’d never know.

There were so many details to figure out. Who should host the ceremony? When should they schedule it? Should this be an annual thing? They’d have to wait until the numbers got back to them, but she liked the idea.

Maybe they could invite some of the young ladies whose pictures they had featured. It shouldn’t be too tough to find a few that had ended up with positive life changes because of it. They could come in and say a few words into a microphone. She liked this idea too.

Well, the first thing they needed to do was to find a spot on the calendar. Once that was done they could arrange the rest. It was important to get everything in the correct slot after all. Then the rest became easy.