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Sunday, June 12, 2011

I'm starting with the man (or woman) in the mirror

O.K. This is going to be a long one, so microwave some organic popcorn (it’s delish) and enjoy.

So, I recently moved into a new apartment. And there isn’t a full length mirror. EEEK. I know. A girl needs a full length mirror. I have one at home that my brothers frequently storm into my room to use. I have one in a dresser that is in my usual dorm room. I suppose this is the first time I have never had a full length mirror in my room. But to tell you the truth, I find myself not caring. Does it really matter if I don’t look perfect? Oh, no, my shoes don’t match my shirt. What to do? And this is a big deal considering the fact that I always used to prefer my ensemble to match. I like to keep it classy.

Recently, I went to a little shindig for my father’s prosthetist. No not prostitute. Gross. My dad is an amputee; I hope that clarifies your confusions.

Anyways, we were talking to his prosthetist who said that the worst age and gender for someone to lose their leg is a 13 and female, because as a 13 year old female they are already undergoing so many body issues. When you are 13, you just want to fit in and be normal. You by the clothes that the cool kids wear. You cut your hair like Taylor Swift or someone else teenagers now adore (I really have no idea…Justin Beiber?). My dad meets grown women in parking lots who are too afraid to wear pants because that would show their prosthetic limb. They always ask my dad the same question, “I can’t believe you are wearing pants, aren’t you afraid of what people will think?” And my dad’s response is always “Why should I care what others’ think.”

I never think twice about the way my dad looks, or any other amputee that I see out and about, if anything I checkout what model prosthetic they have, but I always would think twice about the way I looked. So as I was standing in the prosthetist’s office listening to him speak about 13 year old girls with body image issues, all I could think was that it never really changes, no matter the age. But to me, that 13 year old girl is beautiful, every woman is beautiful. My worry in that moment was how can I tell a 13 year old girl wearing a prosthetic limb that she shouldn’t care what others think; when I care what others think?

I’ve come to the conclusion that we should just remove all of the full length mirrors. I mean don’t break them because being Polish, I believe that to be bad luck, but don’t put one in your daughter or son’s rooms. In fact, take yours out right now.

And I’m not saying that mirrors are bad. Hey, we need them for driving and such. Maybe looking in a mirror occasionally even helps you see yourself clearly and you end up liking what you see. But we shouldn’t waste our time standing, observing every inch of our bodies from our heads to our toes.

I’m going to trust my decisions from now on and I won’t second guess the way my jeans look, or if the color of the shirt matches the color of the skirt. They only real reason I did so before was because I didn’t want people to think I looked like a fool…but why should I care what they think?

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