Why Be Pretty

Why does our world revolve around looks

Why does it not revolve around sounds

Why does it not revolve around smells

They say it’s because we’re wired like that

But if we are not what society values as beautiful

We have to grow up searching for value in our looks

We have to grow up finding ways to make ourselves feel better

We have to grow up looking in the mirror and crying

Why did we normalize that being “pretty” is superior to being kind?

Why are the mean pretty girls in school the popular ones?

People are dying for looks

People are going broke for looks

But why am I not considered pretty?

What do I lack?

Are my lips too small?

Is my tummy too big?

Am I too short?

Why do we support this insanity?

It seems that liking the way we look is acquired, not innate

Has it always been that way?

Or has the media ruined our self-image?

A kind person is seen as weak

A respectful person is overlooked

What have our standards come to

We are much more than what hits the retina

We are not a body

We are not a face

We are people with love, with dreams, with morals, with pasts

We are people who are loved by God the way we are

We are people with power to do better and be better for ourselves and others

Let’s make this the new pretty

This poem goes out to anyone who has ever felt that their appearance was not "good enough" for society. This poem is here to remind you that you are much more than what meets the eye. You are pretty inside and out. If there is anything you take from this poem, take this: you define what the word "pretty" is. As long as you see yourself as pretty, you will be pretty.

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This poem was originally published on Medium.