The Prettiest Picture

I don't know what inspired me to write this. It may have been my dream, or a commercial I was watching, or the girl I met yesterday at a volunteer clinic, or something my grandma told me over spring break, but I’ll get to that later. I know this sounds lame, but I was just thinking about life. It made me kind of sad too. I was thinking about how sometimes people don’t feel perfect and that makes me sad.

I feel like there are so many things in this world that can easily make you feel bad about yourself. For instance, doctors. I know they are supposed to help you and all, but I feel like sometimes they just do the opposite. My doctors have told me things like; “You have back problems”, “Your feet are flat and you’re going to need to fix that”, “You’re underweight”, “Your height to weight ratio is wrong”, “You have a pigmentation problem”, “Your teeth aren’t perfect”. Normally this doesn’t bother me, but when I think about it, it’s these types of things that make you feel bad about yourself. And these things mixed with T.V commercials about “If you don’t have the newest product you suck” kinda thing, and magazines with crazy thin and computer enhanced models. And this is just the external beauty stuff!

There are so many mental imperfections too. School seems like its all about competition and grades now. Grades and testing seem to say everything about you. We’re always looking to the future and planning ahead. If we look too far, we miss what is happening now, and if we worry too much about what’s happening now, then we miss the simple pleasures, and then life passes by in the blink of an eye.

We spend so much time trying to be perfect. Can’t we just be ourselves? Isn’t that good enough for the rest of the world? Shouldn’t that be good enough? I mean, if someone breaks your heart, do we cry because we couldn’t change ourselves to be what they wanted us to be, or do we move on because they just weren’t meant for you.

I guess I’m kind of ranting, but it makes me sad to think that this is happening. People don’t feel perfect because of society. I guess one of the only ways to help this is to build your confidence, and the confidence of others. So, to that girl I met the other day… you have a wonderful personality and I am really glad that I was able to meet you. Please, keep being your beautiful self!

When I visited my grandma, I went into her room and was looking at all of her pictures all over her walls. I told her, “Grandma, these are so pretty!” She looked at them and thought for a minute and then said, “They are pretty aren’t they? But do you want to see the prettiest picture?” I nodded. She held up a mirror to me and said, “That is the prettiest picture.”

So, to my grandma… thank you for making me realize that I am perfect just the way I am. And to everyone else… you really are the prettiest picture:)