Beauty

This is so beautiful. It is so real. And I really struggle to think about how I feel about it.

In the 7th grade I was bullied by a girl who was my friend. Well, she's still my friend...on Facebook.

But she, and I believe unwittingly, took the one thing I was hanging onto and rubbed it in my face. She took the chip on my shoulder, my badge of pride, and reduced it to a taunt. She didn't know that it was all that I felt I had.

I hesitate to talk about bullying sometimes, because I didn't have it as bad as others. But when it happened, it felt like the end of the world, and because I was one of those cool kids, pretty kids, smart kids who were supposed to be immune to it, I had no recourse. I wonder how many other little girls and boys felt like they couldn't allow themselves to feel the embarrassment of bullying because they had to pretend they weren't hurt by it, that they were stronger than it, that they were above it.

I would like to say I was above it, and yet I remember so clearly, how I was dealing with situations far beyond my maturity, but not yet old enough to know how to hold my ground, to be myself, to admit that I wasn't perfect.

So this film is what it is - a work of art, and a message to many more of us than we would care to believe. We have one another and we have love. Our stories are about balancing beauty.