Beauty.

Picture taken on May 11. Journal published June 26

"Ms. C! Look I'm a beautiful princess because I have this dress and a lot of make up on!"

It broke my heart when I heard that from one of my students. Her beautiful face glowed from pure happiness and innocence, and yet, already blinded by what the world already defined for her. I quickly told her that not a lot of makeup doesn't make you beautiful, your heart does. She responded with a confused expression and quickly disagreed.

Now that when I walk out with a face full of make up, I look at the young girls around me and wonder, am I really teaching them the right things?

Make up isn't bad. It's how we use it to cover what we think is already ugly when... It's not. I remember my first few times putting on make up and right away thought, people will like me now.

That is not what I want my students to learn.


How do you teach such a thing when wherever they go, all they see is something that is already trying to cover what they already beautifully have?




Then there's the topic of race.

One of my students who is Indian, loves to hold my hand and then compare his skin color to mine. He would turn my hand over, put his hand on top, and look closely at it again. He would then look at my face then back to my hands. I would smile and say yes, you're brown and I'm yellowish white. He would then smile and say yes.

It's moments like this that I try not to take for granted. How do you teach such a lesson of to love one another for who we are, from everything within and out? By simply showing them the differences but those differences are so, so special. That he is beautiful. That she is beautiful.

During the week of Charleston shooting, I was angered by it during my lunch break I didn't want to go back to work. I felt useless and wrong of me to simply just get up and go back. When I walked back into the room though, I realized that this is where it all starts: to either teach them to hate the differences or love one another.




But how do you teach such things?




wisdom
please.
heart
Open.
To love and to hold.
break
me.