Fruitful thoughts, pestful flies

And you stood there,

Clutching your arms tightly together,

as if to avoid their stares or your stammer.

Your dark brown hair slickly pulled back behind your ears,

your watchful eyes following their prized feet.

If only you could see then,

what I see now.

Your oversized backpack hung from your shoulders like a hopeless cliff,

your steady pace,

and your new face, untouched by the your hands,

yet completely encapsulated in society and what it wanted you to be.

Your yearning mind,

your salivation at the thought of something new,

something blind

from the eyes

that truly knew you.

If only you could see then,

what I see now.

I would tell you that you have a thousand things to be confident for.

You have a million things to smile for.

You have a billion things to be thankful for.

I would tell you,

that,

those blonde strands upon their hairs would never be able to measure up to the blonde reflection of the fresh steamed rice that was cooked by your mother’s hands.

I would tell you,

that you envied them.

You envied them for the things they had.

You envied how they could readily put little value on those cents tingling in your pockets.

And you envied the way,

the way…

the way they were confident.

If you knew then,

what I know now,

there would be too much to tell, my friend.

But if I could,

just get myself to utter a breath-ful of words,

I would tell you,

that you are beautiful.

You’ve always been beautiful;

and your only flaw

lied not in being envious,

but in never truly being confident in your own skin, with your dark brown hair, new face, and tired shoulders.

I would tell you,

to learn from my mistakes.

To be confident,

regardless of the demand in society to be…well, something else.

Inner beauty is about not so much loving every single feature of yourself, but to be confident with those features. Looking back on my younger years, I often wished I was more confident in MY beauty; regardless of whether it fit the the idea society had set out. I was so young and yet…had so much self-hatred. Learning to love yourself because of everything you ARE is inner beauty. Growing mature enough to know you are beautiful (even without Society’s seal of approval) is true inner beauty to me.