One of the best things that writing has done for me is given me a forum for dialogue with people,
When I decided to write, all I wanted to do was tell stories,
Amazingly and blessedly they have been stories that people want to read and characters they can believe and relate to…
Recently I was talking to a woman about Schae’s Story and she touched on how she was able to relate to the Jenelle character, Schae’s sister…but for different reasons,
She confessed to me that she was the very dark-skinned sister to a biracial older sister and how her mother and family had doted on her sister…
How she had spent her life dealing with ugly remarks about her appearance,
I could feel the pain and see it in her eyes, she said it was so painful that she had vowed to have children with a white guy to ensure that her kids didn’t look like her…I was stunned into silence, didn’t know what to say…
But I thought about it,
And thought about it,
And was amazed how deep to the bone those kinds of hurts go,
And how in some cases, people never transcend them,
Not just issues of skin hue,
But issues of looks period,
Unfairly or not, we are judged at least on first impression,
By what we look like…
I remember years ago a friend said to me that looks didn’t matter,
I looked in her lovely face and said,
‘The only people that looks don’t matter to are those who have some, in the same way that money don’t matter until you’re broke…’
Last night as we were driving home from church,
My conversation was on my mind,
So for the umpteenth time, I asked my man,
‘Why are looks so important…’
He said, ‘Baby they just are, they are usually all you have until you get to know someone…after that they don’t matter…as much…’
I know he was right,
But it made me think about all the young girls who navigate through life,
Feeling it is unfair because they don’t look a certain way,
And how it manifests itself in behavior that is a cry for help,
Many girls who don’t feel pretty enough, give themselves away in the hopes,
It will bring what they are looking for…
And of course it doesn’t,
It just leaves them with another set of circumstances to overcome…
That is why as parents we have to teach our children, our daughters, granddaughters, nieces,
How valuable they are and how the world will see them as they see themselves,
Also, make them feel beautiful inside,
Because what comes from within,
Shines without…
Because to be valued,
One must first value oneself…
LORD, DO WE HAVE OUR WORK CUT OUT FOR US...
BE BLESSED!
SCHAE’S STORY @ http://www.angeliavmenchan.com/
