Pretty or Ugly?

My husband likes to check out the news headlines every night, and the other day he noticed something a little disturbing. It turns out little tweener girls have been posting videos to YouTube asking viewers to comment on whether they think they are pretty or not. Not gonna lie, I was more than a little disturbed by this; I was devastated actually. I cannot believe the impact media and modern society seems to be having on such young, impressionable girls! Everywhere they look, they see images of beautiful, skinny women, and are told that is not only the norm but what is necessary to be happy in life. They are so concerned about how they look they are turning to complete strangers on the internet to validate themselves! But the sad thing is, so many people on YouTube are unnecessarily harsh, crude, and just downright mean. So it seems to me like whoever puts up these videos comes to one of two conclusions: 1) they get some comments saying how gorgeous/sexy/beautiful they are, and get an overinflated sense of self-esteem based on characteristics that really do not matter and are not long-lasting; or 2) they get one really nasty comment from some jerk and that is all they can focus on, and it completely destroys them. Either way, it's a sad end to that story.

I was so upset to see how many girls are resorting to this sort of confidence boost, because they feel like whatever other talents or good qualities they have aren't good enough, or that they're not the important things to focus on. I checked out a few of the videos, and these are just such young girls that really shouldn't even be concerned about their looks like this - they should be out playing with their friends, and being involved in activities like soccer or art or piano! I hope one day every girl can see how beautiful she really is, no matter what her face or body looks like. That stuff DOES NOT matter in the end. I hope these girls can learn to love themselves for who they are, not their complexion or jean size.