How do you define yourself?
That was a question asked by Lizzie
Velasquez, a 25 year old woman with a very rare syndrome that prevents her from
gaining weight. She has weighed no more
than 64 pounds her whole life. She
cannot see out of her right eye and as you might imagine, her appearance is
quite unusual. Because of this, she was
bullied much of her life. It started on
her first day of Kindergarten when another child ran away from her after Lizzie
simply smiled at her and asked her to play.
This left her wondering what she did wrong. Later, when she was in high school, someone
posted an 8 second video of her and the comments on it included, "Kill it
with Fire!", "Why not just pick up a gun and kill yourself?, and
"Ugliest Woman in the World."
At that point, she realized she had a choice... she could let those
comments, that hatred and that ignorance direct her down a path of self-loathing
that could lead her to taking her own life, or she could let her goals,
accomplishments and the love of her family and friends guide her towards a
better, more accurate definition of herself. She chose the latter and let her
goals of becoming a motivational speaker, author, and college graduate define
her!
I see children every day feeling
defined by what others think or say about them.
I've seen girls and boys brought to tears because they think that others
are talking about them or leaving them out of conversations or moving away from
them in the lunchroom on purpose. They
are being defined by the cruel acts of some and not by whom they truly are or
what they want to be.