Almost a year ago, a student at the Chicago High School of the Arts, Shea Glover, conducted a social experiment at her school. She asked her fellow students if she could take a picture of them because she was taking pictures of things she finds beautiful, and she recorded their reactions. The video has over 10 million views on YouTube and over 6 million views on the Break Entertainment Website Facebook page where I first discovered it.
The students' responses vary drastically. Many shyly accept the compliment, saying they feel flattered. Several ask if Glover is serious. One girl even becomes extremely defensive and even hostile, thinking that Glover is just messing with her. Though every response is different, you can tell that the one thing the students have in common is that "you are beautiful" is not something any of them hear very often, if at all.
Glover's experiment should speak volumes to the world that everyone is beautiful. No matter what your skin color is, what your hair looks like, how many freckles you have, if you wear glasses, if you are male or female, if you have facial piercings or tattoos, what you wear, or any other physically varying trait. Everyone on this good, green earth is beautiful and beautifully unique, and we should all embrace our beauty and remind each other and ourselves of it every day.
Self-hate and dangerously low confidence levels are seriously and unfortunately common in middle and high schools. Children and teens judge and face judgement for their clothes, their hair, their piercings, their style, their skin, and so much more. So, sadly, it does not come as a surprise that every student Glover filmed at ChiArts was taken aback by being called 'beautiful.'
Something needs to change. It is my hope that Glover's social experiment continues to make its way across the internet and across the world. I hope that Glover's message will inspire and encourage children, teens, adults, parents, friends, partners, even strangers to remind each other daily, "You are beautiful." Because we all are. The immense diversity of the human population is a marvel, and instead of letting our wonderful differences separate us, we should constantly embrace them, allowing our uniqueness to untie us as a people.
Thank you, Shea Glover, for your fantastic video, and for reminding me that I, just like every student you filmed, am beautiful.
Challenge: tell everyone you speak to today that you think they are beautiful. Maybe even tell a stranger.
