The moment you look at someone, what is the first thing you notice? Is it how that girl's hair is a weird shade of blue, or maybe it's how she is dressed like a slut and begging for guys' attention. We are all guilty of this, guilty of judging someone's appearance right off the bat. But the good thing is that it's not our fault, it's the way we were raised. Our society puts this idea in our head that image is everything.
When you shop, you buy name-brand clothes, but own too much, and you're a rich snob. Your hair better be pin straight or curled lightly, but don't Shirley Temple it. Make sure your nails are painted and your makeup is always done, but too much makeup, and you'll look like a raccoon. Eat healthy so that you are skinny, but don't be so skinny that you look anorexic. Wear low cut shirts and short shorts, but don't look like you're begging to be noticed.
Why? Why do we do all of this every day? Because this is what society tells us is pretty. This is what society tells us is worthy. And when we look in the mirror we want to see pretty, and we want to know that we are worthy.
Image makes many decisions nowadays. It decides if you're going to be in the popular crowd in high school. It decides if that cute guy is going to ask to dance with you or the girl next to you. It determines whose face is going to be plastered on the billboards that are advertising a product on how to be pretty. It decides how many likes you will get on your Instagram post. It even decides which sorority you are going to be in. And ultimately, it determines your confidence level.
We are shunned for feeling insecure and self-conscious, but when the world demands such a hard-to-reach idea of pretty, then how can we not feel this way? No matter how hard you work at it, there will always be people telling you that you can be better. So how can we possibly look in the mirror and be happy, when society tells us that we shouldn't be?
So what happens when you can't reach this idea of being "attractive?" What if it's in your genes to be overweight, what if your hair just doesn't straighten, and what if you can't afford those name-brand clothes? As society becomes more fixed on this idea of image, the rate of depression in teens and young adults, especially girls, has skyrocketed. People spend hours each day looking in the mirror and wondering why they couldn't have been born different. This obsession with image creates the idea that our natural bodies are never good enough. We are all the victims and culprits of what image has done to our generation, so why do we let it continue?
So next time you look at someone and judge them for their outfit or their weird hairstyle, stop and think. Each and every person is beautiful in their own way. Our world has created an image in our heads of what beautiful is, but why should it be that way? Without society telling us what is pretty, we could all truly believe we are beautiful, and that's the way it should be.
