A couple of weeks ago, I was standing in line at Starbucks buying some coffee grinds. I was minding my own business and lost in my own thought like any typical person. A lady in front of me had just placed her order and was walking back to grab some sugar packets when I complimented her eye shadow. She was so taken aback that someone had complimented her on something as trivial as her makeup, but she had such a big smile on her face after I said it. That interaction got me thinking-- what if all women were nice to one another?

I live by the philosophies to treat others the way you would like to be treated and to always remember that someone may be going through something you can't see on the outside. Now I had never met this girl before, but that doesn't mean she doesn't have problems of her own that the world can't see. Maybe she got into a fight with her family or significant other. Maybe she woke up late for class or got a bad grade on a paper or test. None of us know her backstory, but the smile she had on her face after being complimented on something as minute as eye makeup made her whole face light up.

While women are characterized as being strong, intelligent, and beautiful, we are also, however, portrayed as being childish, petty, and catty toward one another. I've experienced this before and I can't say I haven't acted this way to other women before. What if we actually confronted one another when a problem had arisen rather than going to our friends and talking behind that other friend's back? What if we said what was on our mind rather than bottling it all up? Taking a few minutes out of our day to help someone, or even just telling a girl that they looked nice could make such a difference.

We teach little girls to empower one another, but how can they grow up to be empowering women if we ourselves aren't encouraging our fellow women?

One example of an empowering woman would have to be the character of Leslie Knope from "Parks and Recreation." Now, while she is a fictitious person portrayed by Amy Poehler, we can all learn a lesson or two from her. Leslie is a strong and independent woman, something every woman strives to be. However, one rarely sees her put down any of her co-workers, and instead, she chooses to lift them up and encourage them to live up to their fullest potential. That is what we should be doing as women. Instead of letting trivial categories divide us -- Democrat or Republican, liberal or conservative, gay or straight, religious or atheist -- we should be encouraging one another to live up to our fullest potential and lift one another up.