Beauty. What is it? Did you know in the 1700s a woman was considered beautiful if she was overweight because it meant she had enough money to eat well. Boy have the times changed. My dearest friends, welcome to the 21^st century where a woman is beautiful if she has enough money to inject herself with needles, coat her skin in products, and accentuate various body parts through plastic surgery. A beautiful woman is one who has enough “self-control” to starve herself. A beautiful woman doesn't even have pores on her face, let alone imperfections. And who tells us this? The media, and of course we listen. On average, we are bombarded with about 400 to 600 ads a day in which most, if not directly, at least indirectly shove not only the value of beauty down our throats, but the idea that beauty is value. Products say: Thinner, softer, smoother, sexier, better, prettier, hotter. The suffix -ER is regularly used in forming the comparative degree of adjectives. Comparative. No wonder suicide and depression rates are climbing each year. According to suicide.org, a teen takes his or her own life every 100 minutes. Suicide is the third-leading cause of death for young people ages 15 to 24. Approximately 20 percent of teens experience depression before they reach adulthood, and between 10 to 15 percent suffer from symptoms at any one time. Girls are two times more likely to experience depression than boys. And what is the leading cause of depression? Low self-esteem. So if a girl is exposed to 400 to 600 ads a day, proving to her that there will always be someone more beautiful than she is, why wouldn't she have low self esteem. If a girl is constantly being compared to prettier girls, then why wouldn't she be depressed. If a female is told every day of her life, that her value lies in her beauty, than why wouldn't she feel inadequate, not good enough, ugly, not worth it. We are striving for an impossible degree of perfection. Because believe it or not, not even the girls in the magazines, look like the girls in the magazines. Airbrush, photo shop, make up. It's all fake and it is all literally impossible. The pictures in the media are edited to make a woman's face perfectly symmetrical as this is most pleasing to the eye. Well in the history of the world, rarely has any human being ever been born perfectly symmetrical. They drain our self esteem so that they can drain our wallets. They distort their faces in order to distort our sense of beauty. Well now it's our turn. It's our turn to regain our sense of reality. It's our turn to have our voices heard, to tell them that beauty isn't everything. It's our turn to tell them what beauty means. Beautiful is the girl who goes into surgery with a shaved head, fighting to keep her life. Because this surgery is more beautiful than a nose job or cheek lift. Beautiful is the girl who has imperfections that set her apart. Because being different is better than trying to be like the rest of them. Beautiful is the girl who stands up for what she believes in. Because standing for what's right, is better than walking down a runway. Society will continue to throw at you, a million different slogans of what beautiful is, but it's your turn to stop listening. Don't listen to them, listen to yourself because deep down there is a part of you that knows, that has always know, something. The truth. The truth that you are beautiful just the way you are. So stop caring if you're pretty or not. You will never be merely pretty, but you will be pretty kind, pretty smart, pretty hardworking, and pretty amazing. And if you ask me, I think that's pretty great.

Dear Girls,

          Imagine a world where possibilities are endlessly abundant. A world where opportunities are limitless and limits are only opportunities to be exceeded. In this land there are tales of love and tragedy. There are adventures and brave men and women. There are villains and heroes. A land where both good and bad dwell. Imagine a world where once upon a times and happily ever afters exist. Close your eyes and really imagine this.
         Now open them and tell me exactly what you saw. Better yet, let me guess. Your land was probably full of castles, brave knights, and beautiful princesses. Did your imagined world have a dragon? I'm willing to bet there were enchanted forests filled with fairytale creatures. Now tell me, why is this the world you imagined? Why did you not instead imagine your own? Do happily ever afters and once upon a times not exist in the real world? Is this life not full of possibilities and opportunities? Is this land not full of heroes and heroins?
         Stop wishing for a fairytale and create your own adventure. Do you not know that there are thousands of people that would give anything to have half the life you do? You are responsible for writing your own story. Your fairytale has some blank pages waiting to be filled. Now princess, straighten your tiara and stand up tall because you are a daughter of God. Your once upon a time has already begun and your happily ever after is awaiting. So be grateful for the life you have and go rock those glass slippers.

In my AP Language class we were given the assignment to write a letter to someone describing a lesson we had learned. I decided to write this to my 8 year old niece who is trying to fit in and is already dealing with some girl drama at school.

             Dear Kylie,

       Don't even try to fit in. It'll do you really no good. Because soon you'll be just like the rest, and you'll never truly be understood. Don't be afraid to stand for what's right. Don't be afraid to stand out. Because a hill with a tree that stands by itself, is more beautiful than one without.

Dare to be different. Believe me, I've been where you're at, I know how you feel. It's easier to fit in than to chose your own path. Trust me, I've participated in the gossip, tried to blend in. And you want to know a secret? It never made me happy, not even a bit. You know what did make me happy though? The day I stopped worrying about what others thought of me. You see Kylie, the most important thing in this life is not how others feel about you but rather how you feel about yourself. At the end of the day, are you the person you wish to be? I'm not asking you if you are the person everyone around you is pretending they want to be. You see you are destined for greatness. You have more potential than you will ever understand. Stop blending in with the crowd. Stop trying to be one of them. Because you are not them, you are you. And you are the most wonderful you there could be. Kylie, close your eyes for a minute. Imagine a field of yellow daisies. All of them are the same shade of yellow, the same size, hardly different at all. However in the center of this field is a glorious red tulip. Now open your eyes. Do you remember a single individual daisy, or is it just a yellow blur? But surely, you remember the tulip. The one flower that was different from the rest. The yellow daisies were beautiful, it's true. But the red tulip was magnificent because it was one of a kind.

        Kylie, nobody is ever remembered for fitting in. Elvis Presley didn't become a legend because he decided to pluck a few strings on his guitar and sing a couple of ballads that had already been sung. He went down in history because he gave birth to Rock and Roll, he went down in history because his music was different. Then there's Thomas Edison. You don't learn about Thomas Edison because he did the rational thing, and gave up after his third try. Thomas Edison went down in history because he did what nobody else would have done. He tried over a thousand times before he finally created a working light bulb. Edison said himself, "I have not failed 1,000 times. I have successfully discovered 1,000 ways to NOT make a light bulb". Then take Martin Luther King Jr. for example. You don't celebrate him because he lived life in the shadows of racism like most other people. You celebrate him because he used his voice to stand up for the things he believed in most. Because he was different from everyone around him, he helped give thousands of people rights to equality.

        Kylie there are a lot of amazing people in this world. People who have changed the course of history, or even who have simply made this world a better place for everyone around them. True greatness comes through being, you and being unique. It's like Elaine S. Dalton once said, “If you desire to make a difference in the world, you must be different than the world.”

         Hold fast to who you are, and never try to be like the rest. Work hard, stand strong, be kind, be smart, and always give your best. Dare to be different and always stand out, to yourself you must always hold. Because if you are you, and nobody else, someday you just might change the world.
                                                   Love,
                                              Aunt Nena

You Are Worth It.

       You breathe the same air the rest of us breathe. You use the same words the rest of us use. You walk the same earth the rest of walk. You drink the same water the rest of us drink. You soak in the same sun that the rest of us do. And your worth is as great as the rest of ours is.
        No matter what you have done or who you think you've become, you are NOT worth less than anyone else. You are destined for greatness and you have more potential than you will ever understand.
        Do not listen to what they say, because what do they know? Do not let them tell you, you are not pretty enough, skinny enough, smart enough, rich enough, athletic enough, or creative enough. BECAUSE YOU ARE ENOUGH! You may not be them, but you are you, and why would you ever want to be anyone else?
        Stop letting them hold you back. Stop letting them define you. If someone says no, you simply say yes. If someone says stop, you simply say go. If someone says impossible, you just smile and walk away because you know better. You know that you have what it takes and you know that your worth is great. Please my friend, whatever you do, remember that enough, is just being you.

She Is Simply Beautiful, Simply Being Her.

She is never the girl to win homecoming queen

or be elected as SBO

Her hair isn't perfect, her skin isn't flawless

and she doesn't have the most fashionable clothes.

It's true she has never been cheer captain

and she never has played any sports

she is never the first to be asked to the dance

and she isn't of the most popular sort.

Her teeth have never been perfectly straight

nor are they perfectly white

but despite all the imperfections she has

her smile is the most dazzling sight.

Her smile is beautiful not in perfection

but simply because she loves life

her smile reflects all the good in this world

and all the beauty she sees through her eyes.

She has never been the most popular girl

but she has never even cared at all

She always is loving, she always is kind

and she always helps others when they stumble or fall.

She has never been the smartest kid in the class

but this bothers her not even a bit

she always works hard and she never gives up

she is smart enough to know never to quit.

It's a shame that many will never understand her true beauty

because they're too busy seeing through their eyes

if they'd simply look at the world with their hearts

they'd know that a girl like this is the most beautiful kind.