Beauty

Ever since I was a child I've hated the insistence that "everybody is beautiful", because honestly it only seems to reinforce the concept that beauty is the only attribute of value and the label we should strive for.... How about instead we start to focus on our other good points? As an example, My mum tried to tell me I didn't have a pointy nose "because you're beautiful!!" and it really made me question my eyesight, and not trust the things I saw and *did* like. For example, my gorgeous blue eyes. Now I know my nose is big and I'm ok with that. It's part of who I am. It was silly and pointless to try so desperately to make me feel better by lying to me. I'm not suggesting we be brutally honest with impressionable teenage girls, just that we don't go out of our way to lie to them. Teach them how to identify, appreciate, and develop the positive things about themselves. Whether it's being great at maths, or a caring friend, or having the knack for applying nail polish perfectly. Some beauty does come from the inside. But that doesn't mean a person who is beautiful on the inside is necessarily beautiful on the outside. I just wish instead of saying "Yes she is beautiful but so are you!" we could say "Yes she is beautiful, but there are other things that matter just as much". And there are things that matter less. I am horribly inarticulate today, but the point is simply - the more we insist that everybody is beautiful, the more obsessed we will become with being beautiful.