Let's take it back
Back to middle school
The time of youth and innocence
The time of trying to fit in and be cool
I'm an eleven year old girl who has braces and glasses
I'm an eleven year old girl with a mark on her face
It's not on the cheek or near the eye
But at a place that all can see and I have to embrace
Embrace the flaws and imperfections
But how can you tell that to an eleven year old who
just wants to play?
12 years old and it's the 7th grade
She still hasn't come out of her shell
Still hiding her face
Mother and Father why can't I erase this mistake
Everyone looks and judges as if I'm
not of human race
My sweet child you should not be ashamed
It's God's gift to you
to make you stand out of place
You are a beautiful girl who should
not be ashamed
What was it that was on my face?
That was so prominent and bold
scaring others away
Isn't a face like a canvas that one should paint?
Isn't that what the black dot is?
A speck on a white page?
Who am I kidding I can't escape this fate
The fate of being looked at and to speculate
The eyes that stare and the
confusions in the young ones eyes
I guess I have to live with it the rest of my life
But no.
I want to know why others judge me instead of get to know me
I want to know how I can get past
this silly notion that I'm not good enough or pretty enough
So I try. I ignore the stares
I focus on the positives
I strive hard in school and make new friends
It seemed like I forgot about it but in truth it never
ends.

Let's jump forward to last year
My junior year
A year filled with many adventures and wonderful friends
A year I broke out of my shell
Something I've been holding on since
around the age of ten
There was so much fun and so many memories
everything was happy and lovely
But in the back of my mind the mark
still bothered me
I knew it shouldn't
But I couldn't stop it from happening
Every new person I met
it was a risk
A risk of being exposed and judged
before I could've said anything
Eventually this year I began to embrace
embrace all the flaws I have and remind myself
no one is perfect, that would be inhumane
But I'm not here to just tell a story
I'm here to give you some advice

Listen before you judge
Listen before you speak
Physical appearances are sometimes masks
Who is the real person deep inside?
Don't judge by how one looks
you can't read them easily like a book
you have to spend time and get to know them
listen to their stories
even if it you have to travel back with them
to when they were eleven