Why Your Zit is Hot!!!

By Jasmin Urena

It's Monday morning and the alarm goes off as an annoying siren-like sound that sends me into frenzy. I don't want to be late; it's picture day at school.

Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah, eewwh!

There's a zit on my forehead!

Oooh no, it's huge, oh my god it's gigantic, I need ZAPIT, where is the ZAPIT. I think I'm going to be sick. I feel a fever coming on me. Why me? Why today of all days? I don't think I want to go to school.

Have you ever felt that way? Like the world was coming to an end, because of a zit? Zits can be unpleasant, but more so, being unhappy with your appearance, not feeling pretty enough for whatever the reason....chubby, bad hair, and zits! As teenagers today, this is what we face - image is everything, from the boots on your feet to the barrette on your hair, whether or not you accessorized properly. As young girls, the media influences us and anything else that could possibly surround us to determine how we see ourselves when we look in the mirror. We are conditioned to think of beauty with a limited perspective instead of learning to appreciate what we look like, cultivating our own image to the likeness of what we indeed see in the mirror.

I clearly remember growing up. All the time, kids at school picked on me because of the way I looked. You see, I am a rare mix of many cultures-one of them being Chinese. When people look at me, they don't know what to make of me. They can't tell if I'm Indian, Hispanic, Oriental - you name it, they guess it. Back to the kids though...I was so horribly teased. "Go back to Japan!" "Go back to China, Chinese girl!" My personal favorite, however, was always "eewh, what's that on you face? You've got a huge pimple on your forehead" (as if I didn't know it was there). The comments flowed like a river.

I was so uncomfortable with my looks and appearance for a long time. I seriously don't understand how I survived adolescence. The things people said hurt me, leading me to dislike myself until one day (girls, that's all it takes - one day), I looked in the mirror and decided to love myself, regardless of anything anyone had to say. I truly began to appreciate my features, facial and physical.

Let me get personal:

I'm Hispanic, and the women in my culture traditionally come pretty well built in what the media would consider, well, lets just say we're blessed in certain body parts. I, on the other hand, was not so blessed. I have always been thin. However, one day somebody told me that God made me skinny so I could run faster. As I stood in front of that mirror, I remembered those words, and everything began to have a reason. My Chinese eyes, my long hair, my entire physique...

I began to value my bone structure and all the intricate details that would form the person I am today. SO WHAT! As Tyra saids, if I'm skinny, chubby, fat, whatever you want to call it, I don't have the coolest clothes, I'm short, tall, I have big boobs but no behind or just the other way around. I mean there are so many ideas out there that I think it's time we each found our own ideas, as individuals. At the end of the day, that is what we are, individual smart, beautiful young women who were made with beauty and time.

The most important factor in all of this is to remember that God loves us in whatever way, shape or form we may have. We are important. We shouldn't define beauty through someone else's perspective and what others say. Appreciate who you are while you are young and can do everything and anything you put your mind to. Take advantage of your youth, you've got the world in front of you. The journey only gets more exciting!