Author's Note: The last few days I have been thinking about what beauty is, and no, this won't be an article on how "everybody is beautiful in their own way" or a "be yourself" article. This is just my thoughts, and how I perceive beauty -- so therefore this article is my opinion, and I would love to hear your opinions too in the BBS.
So I am not the most perfect person. I have many traits that many people find "ugly". I don't see many models on magazines with freckles, or large hips. As I was sitting to myself outside for a bit, I came to the conclusion that I will never be naturally beautiful. I shall be forced to be ugly the rest of my life and I can never change that. Depressing I know, and I was getting depressed for a while . . . until it hit me.
"Pretty" and "beautiful" are two different things, and "ugly" is not about appearance. That is my opinion, but I will show you the definitions from Dictionary.com.
Pretty: "Pleasing or attractive to the eye, as by delicacy or gracefulness."
Beautiful: "Having qualities that give great pleasure or satisfaction to see, hear, think about, etc."
Ugly: "very unattractive or unpleasant to look at; offensive to the sense of beauty; displeasing in appearance."
Now, it's quite obvious that those definitions were undoubtedly vague but also very opinionated, as are mine. Without further delay, I will tell you my opinion about the definition of "beautiful","ugly", and "pretty".
Pretty: Pretty is something that can be seen from the eye. You can be pretty by what you wear, what you do, wearing makeup/not wearing makeup, taking care of your skin (and any other health issue), etc. It's temporary and can go away.
Beautiful: Beautiful comes from the heart, and can only be seen by the heart. A person who is beautiful does nice things, thinks good things, says good things and it shows. It is eternal, and it never goes away. It's personality, morals, etc. It can never be taken away.
Ugly: Ugly is when you have a low-self esteem, and you point out all the bad things out about yourself, and other people. Unkindness, and just being plain mean is ugly and is a very ugly thing to do.
The worst thing to do is to go and look at a magazine or something and compare yourself to someone else and think, 'Why am I not as pretty as her?' or, 'Why am I so ugly, I wish I looked like her,' because you will never be them. And you can try and get the same hair as them, and try to look like them, but once again, you will never be them. If you live life trying to be someone else, then you just waste "you" and who "you" were supposed to be.
Don't take it so hard when someone calls you "ugly" because calling you that was an "ugly" thing to do in the first place. "Ugly" people do "ugly" things, but the sad things is, is that it spreads. For example: if someone calls you ugly and then you feel bad about yourself and you start doing "ugly" things to other people. It is an on-and-on cycle.
Live who you are, and let all your flaws come together to make "you". Nothing is perfect, none of the models in the magazine are perfect.
So all and all, after lots of thinking: I wouldn't consider myself ugly, I think I am me. If I live for other people, and I live for being "pretty", then I will never be beautiful. I would rather be beautiful than pretty, and I don't think pretty can be measured either. It's all what your heart and eyes tell you. If you are happy with yourself, and you are happy being you, then others will see it.
Stay BEAUTIFUL everyone,
Rachel
