THE IDEA THAT OTHER PEOPLE’S BEAUTY IS NOT A LACK IN MINE

Locations

07305
United States
40° 42' 3.0708" N, 74° 5' 19.5288" W

I’m driving to the store. I look left at a stoplight;

A girl is applying on mascara on her already thick lashes

 In the limited time frame that we have and I think of

My own seemingly thin, short, naked eyelashes fluttering, but

                                     I’m still flawless.

I’m wandering through the aisles and I look down

And I stumble upon the multiple shelves that hold twenty-something

Magazines all featuring the models and celebrities with

Strongly defined, well groomed, sharp, eyebrows and I think of

My own, small patches of fuzz resting on my face, but

                                    I’m still flawless.

I’m at the checkout counter and I look up while a man asks me

How are you doing today? as he flashes a smile with his

Straight, adequately sized, white, teeth and I think of

My own, slightly tinted, slightly crooked large teeth, but

                                   I’m still flawless.

I’m in the bathroom at the sink and I look into the mirror and

I see myself standing there in my physical form

My cheekbones, my lips, my chin, my forehead

I pick out all of these features on my face but I also see

My own smile, my own confidence, my own beauty radiating

                                    And I’m still flawless.

It’s this idea that the definition of beauty is limited not just by

Societal expectations and mathematical “golden ratio” equations

But also by our own perceptions of and faith in ourselves

And so I realized that OTHER PEOPLE’S BEAUTY IS NOT A LACK IN MINE

And it’s because of this epiphany that I no longer see

My world in what once was an ambiguous grey but rather I view

Myself and my body and my soul in a world with all its municipal hues

                                    Because I know I am flawless.  

 

Comments

Grant-Grey Porter Hawk Guda

Powerful expression! 

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