The Best of You

The Best of You

Written by : Aurora Brown

            Do you remember watching Mean Girls and how the mean little Regina George only friends with pretty and popular people and label the other students at the school based on their looks? When you watch it you think she is cruel. Little did you know, that is how is has been going on for years. Some of you reading this may not realise how this culture has been going on but some of you may relate to this very well. These judgments are causing serious damage to the mind of youths. Teenagers are feeling as if they have no worth and this may lead to a severe case of depression. I am writing to tell you that no matter which side are you on, it is important to love yourself and stop spreading petty judgments.

            One of the reason why teenagers are feeling this way is because the media is playing the human mind and embedding the standard of beauty into the youths’ head. Beauty is a very subjective area, a person may perceive someone as pretty but not others and that is okay because beauty lies in the eye of the beholder. However, with the presence of media, they are telling us what is beauty and how being beautiful looks like. Skinny is ideal, fair is beautiful these are the common beauty in media, which has become a common to us as well. This will make the teens more self-conscious and they end up trying to change themselves, just because they do not fit the beauty how the media portrays it. 

            Other than that, like in the movie, Mean Girls, it takes place in school and the teenagers are labeling which kids are pretty, which ones are popular and which are nerds. The situation is happening in real life even if you have experience it or not. The “pretty” teens are the popular ones and they would make the others feel unattractive and inferior with their good hair and expensive designers. This inevitably led the other kids to be green-eyed monsters towards them and feel insecure about themselves. These teens would go to the extent of being other than themselves just to fit in amongst the crowd.

            We should all stop feeling insecure and inferior with how we look by starting to love ourselves. I know, it is easier said than done but nothing is impossible. As said earlier, beauty is subjective, do not let how people and media perceive beauty gets into your head too much. It is okay to want good skin, it is understandable to want to look decent but do not try to be someone you are not. All that was said earlier, it was all about trying to be someone you are not. Why be like someone else when you can be the best version of yourself. Self-love is very important and only you can make yourself feel better. Forget what people are saying about you and remember, you are beautiful in your own way. Parents can help by being supportive of their teens and taking a friendly approach instead of nagging to them. The society should also change the mindset of labelling who is beautiful and who is not. Stop being so judgmental because we are not perfect ourselves, so we cannot expect people to be perfect too.

            As a conclusion, being judgmental should go to only some extent because petty judgments will hurt people and scar them for God knows when. Everyone should know that each and everyone of us are beautiful. Forget the ideal beauty type that is being showcased and start looking at the beauty in variation. Life is beautiful because there is variation. Imagine how dull it is living in a life with just one colour. We are not the same and we should not be the same. We should be the best version of ourselves.