True Beauty: The Beauty and the Beast

True Beauty: The Beauty and the Beast

By Maya Cottone

(Age 13)

we are all different

from our hair, to our toes

to our arms and legs

to our stomachs
to our feet

but we all feel the same things

we all feel happiness and joy

but through and under all that

we feel pain and sorrow

to express it, all we can say is

I wish, I wish, I wish, I wish

to be beautiful, to be skinny…

to be like her

the perfect girl that does not exist

her

the girl on the billboards who is not real

her

we want to be like her because we have been tricked into thinking she is happy

but how?

how can she be happy?

through the pills and the bulimia

and the standards

how?

how is she happy?

the truth she is not

so we need to happy with ourselves

we all know how to cut our wrists

and not eat our food but that is not who we are

we are girls

we are not fake

WE. ARE. BEAUTIFUL.

so let go of the sorrow and the pain

because you are beautiful

I once heard a wise man say

“you are perfect through all of your imperfections”

he did not mean thinking you are ugly or fat

or popular

he meant believing it

so look at yourself and say

I am beautiful

because it is true

all you need to do is believe it