U.....is for Ugly

What a sad thing. When I went to school many moons ago there were the groups of girls who were more popular and acted stuck up but they mostly kept to their own group. I never remember any of them going out of their way to insult other girls who had less or who weren't as "pretty".

Sadly that has all changed. I'm not quite sure when it happened. There was a little of it happening when my daughter went to school but nothing like it is now that my granddaughters are in school. And it starts early.....as early as first grade here in my community.

My one granddaughter was one of many picked on by a group of three little brats who thought they were extra special and it was only first grade. They were horrible little things who flung insults like confetti at a parade. My granddaughter came home from school crying so many times because of them that I lost count. Her schoolwork started to suffer and she had such a low opinion of herself all due to these girls teasing her. Top that with her getting bullied by some other kids on the playground....it was more than we could deal with. The principal didn't help matters at all so we transferred her to a Christian school where that sort of behavior is simply not permitted. Her grades improved to the point that she is on the honor roll and her self-esteem is back where it should be.

The media has helped form these mean little kids. They've been taught that beauty is everything; it's number one and top priority. The magazines that these parents allow their children to read all promote being beautiful and skinny and that people who aren't are the lowest levels of society. I wish I knew how to turn this all around and how to instill the knowledge that ugliness dwells in the hearts of those who chose to hurt others intentionally. You can pretty yourself up all you want, but if you are ugly on the inside, it shows through your facade of powder and paint.  Not to say I'm against makeup....cause I'm not. I think that whatever a woman does to make herself feel better is fine, as long as she doesn't hurt anyone else in the process. I always put some makeup on when I leave the house.  Not that it's going to make me a beauty queen by any means....but it makes me feel better about myself.

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Now my youngest granddaughter is having the same problem in her second grade class. This is my son's little girl and he isn't able to pay the tuition to transfer her so she has to contend with the teasing. She's a different personality and usually insults the offenders right back, which is getting her into trouble. When she goes home and no one can see her, she cries and thinks everyone hates her.  It's a struggle to get her to school every day; she doesn't want to go.

Society and what the majority expect now has changed drastically. Just take a look sometime at the movie stars of the past and what was thought to be the "best" back in the 30's and 40's and then compare it to now. The breast sizes alone is enough to shock. The competition between all those stars is astronomical and it overflows onto our young girls.....these celebrities are their role models.....and for the most part, they are not good ones.

So Kudos to the designers who are now using models that are more realistic and not skin and bones and if the magazines would stop photoshopping all these celebrities to make them absolutely perfect, which no one is......then maybe our young girls will look in their mirrors and realize that they are not ugly.  Our daughters and granddaughters are all beautiful in their own unique ways.

In participation of the AtoZ Challenge