Beauty that is more than skin deep

We are fed this unreal expectation of actresses and models all with ‘fair, perfect skin,’ they look great don’t they, without a pimple or a blemish? Let me burst that bubble for you –THAT’S PHOTOSHOPPED.

– Rebekah Vijayan

I remember staring at myself in the mirror when I was just fourteen and wondering “What on earth am I doing here?” At her own birthday party, all that a girl wants is to feel like the only princess in the room. Attractive, accepted and admired – a few stares from the guys wouldn’t hurt right!? But all I felt was unattractive, unaccepted and unwanted. I was in a room full of people and I felt alone! Staring at my reflection in the mirror across the room, I couldn’t look away. Not because I loved it, but because I hated it. Dark skin, dark hair and dark pimple marks that made me feel like a living disaster, in addition to this I had lumpy bits all around my jeans- heavens can’t anything be right?

As I reached my hand across the table to help myself to the curry I mentally compared the skin on my hands to that of my friends who sat beside me. “How beautiful Meghna looks…If only…” I thought as the slender, fair-skinned girl laughed at our conversation. Out of the corner of my eye I could see a few boys our age checking her out. Here was Snow White and those who would follow her around like the seven dwarfs, whilst I was probably Fiona and I would get stuck with Shrek- No, No I was Shrek!

Life progressed 15…16…17…it was now my 18^th Birthday, that time in your life when you became an adult according to the law, college life was here, Whoooo! Right?! Wrong, I was still the same fourteen-year-old teenager at heart. I could still never look at myself straight in the mirror. When the Pastor at church said “Love your neighbors as you love yourself” it confused me, because I didn’t know what on earth that meant. College wasn’t some walk in the park either; the remarks of ‘fatty’ and ‘blackie’ followed me everywhere. My desperate attempts to lighten my skin color with creams and lotions did not seem to yield any results.  And then it happened.

Out on a swing by the benches I sat in the dark. Unable to relate to the “religious stuff” going on inside at camp, and unable to belong, I sat alone. One of the camp counselors walked past and she almost didn’t notice me in the darkness, suddenly she stopped and said aloud “I see you.” Simple words, but they got me sobbing, not the silent sweet sniffs of a young lady but the loud uncontrollable snorts of someone who had bottled up a lot over the years. She sat beside me and gently laid her hands on me and said “Celebrate the real YOU because God made you perfect.” Amid my tears I understood that this was God telling me that He loved me, otherwise this woman whose name I didn’t even know could never have known my heart.  She spoke to me awhile longer encouraging me with words of hope and healing, it changed my life.

Just like me there is an epidemic of low self-esteem in our society today. Most girls do not like themselves. Studies have shown that the Indian market is ripe with opportunities for the multi-nationals to exploit the Indian attitude to beauty. Shops and beauty stores are flooded with fairness products and bleaches. Almost every girl in her teens and twenties has a problem with herself; the primary reason is the color of her skin. We are fed this unreal expectation of actresses and models all with ‘fair, perfect skin,’ they look great don’t they, without a pimple or a blemish? Let me burst that bubble for you –THAT’S PHOTOSHOPPED.

Genuine love for self is built on a love for your maker. The world may call you names at times, your uncle and aunt may say “how do we get her married, she is so dark?” but let me assure you God did not get you wrong! He loves you and accepts you as you are- dark skin or fair! You were not created simply for marriage or to beautify the planet, you were created for greater things, a higher plan by an incredible God who loved you enough to die for you.

The Bible tells us that Jesus knew us thoroughly even before we were born, because he made us. This verse from the Bible gives me hope “You made all the delicate, inner parts of my body and knit me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made”

If you want to love the skin, you’re in, give in to God; Let Him teach you about love and beauty. The kind of beauty that is more than skin deep.