THIS IS A SERIOUS ENTRY.

[evilbeej]

How do you catch a unique rabbit?
Unique up on it.

What is it called when a person sings in the shower?
A SOAP OPERA!!!

Why do gorillas have big nostrils?
Because they have big fingers.

Why is a bad joke like a broken pencil?
Because it has no point.

----------------------------------

Hi, I’m Katie, and I’d like to start by apologizing for those jokes. They were pretty bad, huh? They’re completely my sister’s fault!

Let me start for real. When you look at me, what do you see? A normal teenaged girl, right? Okay, maybe not so normal, considering how bad those jokes were. Now, close your eyes. Picture, in your mind, a typical teenager’s life. What I’m looking for here is your opinion; you can think whatever you feel like thinking.

(Pause)
Are you picturing? Typical, totally average kid, the kind you see all the time?
Okay, good.

A lot of you probably have a bunch of favorite TV shows, and each of them share some pretty common images. From what they show you, you might think a normal teenager parties irresponsibly on the weekends, dresses however they feel like dressing, skips school and rebels against their parents. That’s pretty much the stereotypical life of a teenager in the year 2006.

But listen! I have good news for you -- that stereotype? It’s just a stereotype, it’s not the law or anything. We’re all better than that. It’s our generation’s job, it’s our job, to rise above it and become capable, responsible people. We’re already strong because of who we are and what we believe, but we need to show it to the rest of the world. It’s up to us to decide who we really want to be, and share it. Believe me, each and every one of you is way too important to hide your light under a bushel basket.

I didn’t know what I was in for when I started high school. At Morris Catholic, there were all different kinds of kids – every clique, every type you can imagine. There were the preps! There were the jocks! There were punks and band kids, nerds and slackers, weirdos and wannabes, mallrats, skaters, goths and emo kids. Everyone I’d ever heard of!

When the school year began, that’s all I saw. I didn’t look into the souls of people, I just saw their surfaces, the images that the other kids were trying so hard to live up to. I saw the labels, not the people. Hey, even the rebels who told everyone not to label them, told everyone that they were individuals? Since there are so many Rebel Kids out there, and since TV and movies like to talk about them so much, guess what. Even being a rebel isn’t very original. You can even buy official rebel clothes at the official rebel store, and you can pick up as many catch phrases as you want from the movies and the internet. The surface, or the image or label, that’s what people see – and people believe what they see, it’s just human nature.

It’s way too easy to copy a style or an attitude instead of being yourself, instead of being what makes you feel comfortable and confident in who you are – and the media, TV and movies and celebrities and magazines – they’re all trying to tell us that we have to be someone else, that we have to fit the Popular Image (which, to tell you the honest truth, is kind of sleazy) if we want to be happy. What they’re not telling us is that it gets harder and harder to keep pretending to be someone else, the longer we go on. What they’re not telling us is that they’re trying to take away our pride in ourselves, our joy and strength and peace, and sell us a lousy substitute that we have to buy more and more of to stay happy and keep ‘fitting in’. They’re taking away the gifts God gave us – our personalities, our senses of humor, the way our bodies want to look, our senses of self – and they’re selling us cheap fakes that make us feel terrible, even if it takes a while for us to realize it.

Here’s an example.

Let’s say your best friend’s birthday party is this weekend. You know this one particular really cute guy is gonna be there, so you want to get a new outfit to impress him. He has to like what he sees! What should you wear?

Stop right there. You’re already creating an image of what you want him to see, and it’s not necessarily who you actually are.

Let’s take it a step further: what do you buy - something that shows a lot of skin? A belly shirt and low-riders? A tight short skirt or a dress with a really low neckline? What happens if he sees you wearing something like that? Guys like that kinda thing, right? He’ll like you, right?

Bad news. He’ll like what he sees, but it’s not the kind of liking that’s actually cool. If you dressed like that, you’d be showing him the image of a girl who’s worried about fashion and appearances and getting boys to like her – maybe you’d be showing him the image of a girl who likes to steam up car windows! If that’s what you show him, that’s what he’ll believe, because – yeah, say it with me – people believe what they see. What’s even worse? That’s all he’ll see, because most people don’t look past the surface. He’s not going to think there’s any more to you than that; he’s going to think you don’t think your body is special; he’s going to think that you don’t think you’re important and unique, and he’s going to think you’re showing skin to make up for it.

Don’t get me wrong. Looking pretty is a completely different thing. It’s great to look pretty – taking time to take care of yourself does wonders for your mood, and taking care to look pretty makes you feel pretty, and feeling pretty is like a minute-by-minute reminder that you are special. When you remember you’re special, everyone notices you. It’s like you’re sunshine or fireworks, and it works a lot better than trying to hide behind some fake image that you have to keep making sure isn’t slipping.

Girls, you need to understand something, here. Your body is a gift; your body is a temple. It’s worth a lot more than a mannequin’s. You have a soul, and you’re here for a reason, and you’re a real person, and you’re important. You aren’t meant to be looked at like you’re just a body, or just a body wearing expensive clothes that make guys want to take them off you. You’re really cool, and sheesh, those guys should BE so lucky to get to know you! They should be honored to get to know you – the real you, heart and mind and soul, personality and habits and quirks, compassion and dislikes and bad jokes – but they’ll never get to meet the real you if they can’t get past the fake surface.

Being you means being confident – being sure of what you want in life and how you expect to be treated by other people. Setting these goals down will bring you a step closer to knowing and loving who you really are, to being completely at ease with yourself and everyone around you, to being comfortable with other people and with God. When you make a decision and stick with it, people see it as the most beautiful and charming thing.

Being confident, taking pride in yourself and your body, respecting yourself and not being afraid of showing that respect – these things are what makes someone truly attractive. Oh, and trust me, everyone always wants to be around the confident kid, the one who really knows what she wants out of life. I’m serious, confidence is totally a magnet. You have respect for yourself? People will respect you. Don’t be afraid to stand up to misguided or greedy people and tell them that you know what’s right for you, and it’s not what they’re telling you is right for you. Don’t be afraid to love the way God made you, and never forget to remind people by the way you dress and act that you’re a special person, an important person who cares and is cared about, and who people are very, very privileged to know.

Comments

[deireanach.livejournal.com]

Not a lot of time at the moment to comment; forgive me for the lack.

Quite good. A bit repetitious in the 'You're special/deserve respect/should be confident' statements, particularly in the last third. Preachy (though that's probably inevitable given the subject.) Non-preachy would probably mean a ground-up re-write, and it sounds like you don't have time for that. I do suggest some audience participation in the conclusion--there is some at the start, with the 'imagine a typical teenager' bit, and a follow-up at the end with a variant would give this presentation a punch that I suspect few other presentations would have.

In fact, building more on the motif of 'typical teenager' throughout would strengthen the whole--give it an over-all coherency of image, which would feed into the theme of positive self-image.

Good luck with this. :)

[evilbeej]

*HEART*! Thank you!

[tearsinger.livejournal.com]

Bad news. He’ll like what he sees, but it’s not the kind of liking that’s actually cool.

This may offer too much judgement about how boys think/ what they like. Many, even teenaged, guys I have known would not like to see a girl they crushed on dressed like a cheap Spears copy.


Perhaps:

Bad News: If he likes what he sees...

[evilbeej]

YAY! Thank you! Beautiful! <3 <3 <3

[tearsinger.livejournal.com]

Much loves