(no subject)
I just love the It Gets Better videos. I know that message has some faults, but they're really inspiring.
I watched probably twenty of them the other day, because I kept clicking on more and more of them. I couldn't stop watching.
I remember being in seventh grade and feeling so hurt and lonely every day. I didn't have any friends at all to invite to my birthday party, I was called names and had lit cigarettes thrown at me. I hated a lot of my life. And every day I would come home and my parents would sit on either side of me on the couch and tell me that it wouldn't last forever, that one day I would be successful and happy and no one in school would matter to me at all. Obviously that came true. But it was hard to believe at the time. It was hard to believe that I would wait for some magic day to get there when I wouldn't feel so sad. I didn't think that much of myself, but I didn't think that little of myself, either. I never had a movie moment of retribution and victory in middle school. I just finally saw the other side of it. At the end of high school, I realized I had gotten out with some dignity and some self-esteem in place. I attribute that to my parents, who were willing to tell me every single day that I was beautiful and funny and smart and sweet. My life wasn't in danger, but they really saved my sanity and sense of myself.
When I think about that kid who thought she would never kiss a boy or have friends, and look at my real life now, I want to hug her and show her some pictures.
The fact that kids' pop culture idols are telling them they're valuable and wonderful, and that those kids can hit refresh as many times as they want, is remarkable. If they don't have parents to sit on the couch with them, maybe those videos will quietly pick them up a little each day, and they'll escape with their dignity, too.
I watched probably twenty of them the other day, because I kept clicking on more and more of them. I couldn't stop watching.
I remember being in seventh grade and feeling so hurt and lonely every day. I didn't have any friends at all to invite to my birthday party, I was called names and had lit cigarettes thrown at me. I hated a lot of my life. And every day I would come home and my parents would sit on either side of me on the couch and tell me that it wouldn't last forever, that one day I would be successful and happy and no one in school would matter to me at all. Obviously that came true. But it was hard to believe at the time. It was hard to believe that I would wait for some magic day to get there when I wouldn't feel so sad. I didn't think that much of myself, but I didn't think that little of myself, either. I never had a movie moment of retribution and victory in middle school. I just finally saw the other side of it. At the end of high school, I realized I had gotten out with some dignity and some self-esteem in place. I attribute that to my parents, who were willing to tell me every single day that I was beautiful and funny and smart and sweet. My life wasn't in danger, but they really saved my sanity and sense of myself.
When I think about that kid who thought she would never kiss a boy or have friends, and look at my real life now, I want to hug her and show her some pictures.
The fact that kids' pop culture idols are telling them they're valuable and wonderful, and that those kids can hit refresh as many times as they want, is remarkable. If they don't have parents to sit on the couch with them, maybe those videos will quietly pick them up a little each day, and they'll escape with their dignity, too.