Beauty

Today is "Tell her she's beautiful" day according to Facebook. When the event first got started, I thought it was another stupid Valentine's Day event made to make single people feel bad about themselves, but now I have a different view.

I got a text this morning from a friend telling me I was beautiful. It was the first thing I saw when I climbed down from my bed and my first reaction, instead of smiling, was to be confused. I just stared at my phone wondering what was going on and trying to figure out if he had sent it or if someone stole his phone. Finally, I realized what day it was and thanked him.

The point of my story is that it's pretty sad that it takes a special day for people to tell other people that they're beautiful. And it's pretty sad that I didn't know how to respond to such a text. Shouldn't we (and by we, I mean all humans) be told that they're beautiful every single day? We definitely shouldn't be surprised when someone says that to us, especially a friend who I know thinks that I'm pretty.

Girls, and guys for that matter, in America grow up thinking no one wants them. Thinking they aren't beautiful because they don't have blond hair, blue eyes, wear a size 00, or have perfect skin. Whatever happened to the phrase "Beauty is in the eye of the beholder" or "Beauty is only skin deep"?

I'd be lying if I said I have never fallen into the American beauty trap. I'm just as surprised as the next girl when someone tells me I look good. I nearly died when someone that looked like Adam Pittman told someone who looked like me that he liked me (whether he was lying or not, I still don't know, but that's not the point). The point is, we put too much on looks and not enough on what's inside a person. We're surprised when someone tells us we're pretty. We don't know how to respond or what to think. And something needs to be done about that.

So, tell her she's beautiful not just today, but everyday until all of America understands what beauty really is.