Many modern individuals are infected by physical vanity just as so many were in the past, yet now with a greater emphasis on packaging and image. Moreover, modernity offers a great number of distinctive advantages for anyone seeking to wallow in this particular sin. Both media and the internet provide endless opportunities for personal display on a scale undreamed of in the past, even by the richest aristocrat. Our moderns will reinvent their breasts and their noses. When they get old they will do just about anything to remain young. Or else, they leverage their existing ‘good looks’ to climb up the social or career ladder, by flattering those who might advance them with their attentions. They may take expensive supplements for health improvements, or dress up as successful celebrity tarts, or rich athletic brats. In the pursuit of their vanity, those afflicted with this sin will neglect their children, starve the world, and corrupt those gullible enough to follow their examples.
Just as Marten began to take a few notes, a young woman’s face emerged. It seemed to flow like a shape in quicksilver from behind his laptop’s screen. The face smiled and blew him a kiss before dissolving back into his computer.