Thoughts on 07/04/015 - BEAUTY

"Don't ever forget how beautiful and awesome you are. Don't ever let anyone tell you otherwise."

Crap, Friendster blew up so I have to re-write this all over again.

So this was one of my first thoughts. It was directed at someone but I think this is a general truth that everyone should remind themselves about. This is not about the type of self-affirmation that results in many disturbing American Idol auditions; this is about knowing who you are and truly believing in it.

Two songs come to mind when I look at this thought. The first song is Christina Aguilera's "Beautiful." Whether maliciously or not, there are a lot of people out there who, through their words or actions, start tearing down a person's self esteem. But those are just words; they don't change how awesome you are. Nevertheless the damage is done. I've talked to a lot of friends and they all agree... to repair this takes a lot of love and sacrifice. Damn those bad people.

The second song is Coldplay's "Fix You." In it there's a line "But if you never try then you'll never know, just what you're worth." I'll leave it to the reader to interpret that as they may.

Under what authority do I say all this stuff? Well apart from a ridiculous number of collaborative accounts, I am a teacher and a coach. My track record speaks for itself. I'm able to help because I genuinely believe in the potential of people. And this is one of the things I try to instill in the kids I teach as part of the Economics of Staying in School program: you can be whatever you want to be and have fun. I can't make you a champion snowboarder, but I can get you to a level where you're doing it really well and having a blast.

So yes you are as beautiful and awesome as you think you are. As beautiful and awesome as I think you are.