I may or may not have titled this post from a One Direction song, but let's admit, some of their songs have great lyrics.
While in Honduras this summer I had an interesting experience one day at the mall with my friend. We were browsing around, looking for a birthday present for a friend. Coming upon a clearance table, of course we stopped to see if there was anything worth buying.
Not having much time in the sun this summer, my skin color is fairly white, and when compared with most of my Honduran friends who are pretty tan, my skin looks even whiter. It's an on-going joke between me and the friend who I was with that we would trade skin colors if we could. It's that idea that people always want the opposite of what they have. I always laughed about that concept and never thought of it as a big deal, but at the clearance table when my friend reached for the "whitening cream" to make her skin paler, something struck me. I have purchased countless bronzing and tanning oils and creams and have spent hours in the sun trying to tan my skin as much as I can. And here my friend was purchasing cream to make her skin whiter.
I got so angry in that moment that society tells us that we need to look a certain way to be the most beautiful, and we believe it and we literally buy into this lie that we need all these make-ups and body products in order to look ideal. It's all a hoax in the pursuit of money.
Now I did grow up being taught indirectly that make-up is bad, and even though I tried to wear it in my early and mid-teens, it was soon burned into my brain that I should not wear it. So from then on I didn't put much thought into make-up, and I struggled with not judging people who did wear it. Fast forward to after I graduated and moved out on my own and then started college, there was a lot of confusing thoughts I had about it and I never really landed on an opinion. I sometimes wanted to wear make-up to dress up, but I felt badly about it. By my third year of college I became indifferent to whether people wore it or not. I personally didn't have enough hours to sleep at night and usually barely had enough time to make coffee before running out the door in the mornings, so make-up was certainly off of my to-do list.
Then when I had this experience at the mall with my friend, I just got angry and sad that we believe that we need to look a certain way to be beautiful and I wished that make-up didn't even exist.
It's funny though because during this same time in Honduras before this encounter, I was learning to like wearing make-up for fun and for dressing up because most of my Honduran girl friends love it, but it was not something I felt was necessary for my daily life.
So I leave you with this: I had professional make-up put on for the first time in my life for an event I was going to in Honduras, and it was great fun and a memorable experience. I have never looked like that before, and some people didn't even recognize the photos of me! But you know what my friend told me with whom I went to the event? That I didn't need the make-up, that I was just the same without it because I am who I am no matter if my face is colored a certain way or not.
Charm is deceptive, and beauty does not last; but a woman who fears the LORD will be greatly praised (Proverbs 31:30, NLT).
While in Honduras this summer I had an interesting experience one day at the mall with my friend. We were browsing around, looking for a birthday present for a friend. Coming upon a clearance table, of course we stopped to see if there was anything worth buying.
Not having much time in the sun this summer, my skin color is fairly white, and when compared with most of my Honduran friends who are pretty tan, my skin looks even whiter. It's an on-going joke between me and the friend who I was with that we would trade skin colors if we could. It's that idea that people always want the opposite of what they have. I always laughed about that concept and never thought of it as a big deal, but at the clearance table when my friend reached for the "whitening cream" to make her skin paler, something struck me. I have purchased countless bronzing and tanning oils and creams and have spent hours in the sun trying to tan my skin as much as I can. And here my friend was purchasing cream to make her skin whiter.
I got so angry in that moment that society tells us that we need to look a certain way to be the most beautiful, and we believe it and we literally buy into this lie that we need all these make-ups and body products in order to look ideal. It's all a hoax in the pursuit of money.
Now I did grow up being taught indirectly that make-up is bad, and even though I tried to wear it in my early and mid-teens, it was soon burned into my brain that I should not wear it. So from then on I didn't put much thought into make-up, and I struggled with not judging people who did wear it. Fast forward to after I graduated and moved out on my own and then started college, there was a lot of confusing thoughts I had about it and I never really landed on an opinion. I sometimes wanted to wear make-up to dress up, but I felt badly about it. By my third year of college I became indifferent to whether people wore it or not. I personally didn't have enough hours to sleep at night and usually barely had enough time to make coffee before running out the door in the mornings, so make-up was certainly off of my to-do list.
Then when I had this experience at the mall with my friend, I just got angry and sad that we believe that we need to look a certain way to be beautiful and I wished that make-up didn't even exist.
It's funny though because during this same time in Honduras before this encounter, I was learning to like wearing make-up for fun and for dressing up because most of my Honduran girl friends love it, but it was not something I felt was necessary for my daily life.
So I leave you with this: I had professional make-up put on for the first time in my life for an event I was going to in Honduras, and it was great fun and a memorable experience. I have never looked like that before, and some people didn't even recognize the photos of me! But you know what my friend told me with whom I went to the event? That I didn't need the make-up, that I was just the same without it because I am who I am no matter if my face is colored a certain way or not.
Charm is deceptive, and beauty does not last; but a woman who fears the LORD will be greatly praised (Proverbs 31:30, NLT).
Anna I love this. We have the same issue in Jamaica, many people bleach their skin because they think whiter is better. It is very hard for me to see. I tan because I want to be darker. Most below in Jamaica feel that lighter is better. On Sunday, the pastor said his mother-in-law used to joke, "If you are white, you are alright. If you are brown, stick around. If you are black, stay back." Unfortunately, this is very true in Jamaica, so many try to get lighter in the hopes of achieving more.
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