To some people it’s a strange environment walking down the hallway at Mattoon High School. One second, one can see some PDA and then later on down the hallway see a broski checking out his abs in a mirror at his locker. It’s an interesting flip to say the least. Yet, one of the most intriguing things about high school students is the subject of body image.  Either someone has much confidence in one’s beauty or a has a lack of confidence in his or her looks.

Before I begin with the faults of these two beliefs, I just want to say there is a middle ground in this topic. I’m not saying a person must fall into these two categories, but I’m going to be focusing more on the people who do fall into these categories.

It’s not uncommon to hear from one’s peers something along the lines of, “Oh my god did you see that Lazlow boy?” He looks so disgusting; he has horrible hair, and he will be alone forever.” The peer saying this statement is someone who probably finds themself completely gorgeous without a single flaw. 

Here is an example of that kind of person, Dolph thinks he is a mega stud; he is jacked with muscles like you wouldn’t believe, and women find him for a lack of a better term: HOT! How, Dolph is incredibly vain, thinking he is God’s gift to woman. Looks go beyond one’s body features; beauty involves some mental aspects, as well. It is very unattractive to be an egotistical idiot. One can have astounding physical features, but it wouldn’t hurt to back it up with a great attitude. Nobody is perfect. One can’t go around thinking he is the best looking being on the planet. It’s very unbecoming. 

To add on to that, if one is truly confident in the way he looks he wouldn’t bring down people who aren’t as confident in the way they look. That perhaps shows a person isn’t very happy with the way he looks either. I mean why do they care what people look like? They are just compensating for their own inner flaws.

Conversely, I do not think people like Dolph are the issue when it comes to body image. They play a factor but are not the real issue. The real issue comes from people with low self-esteem. As many faults as the over confident people have, at least they are confident and happy with the way they look. People like Lazlow who feel they are the proverbial ugly ducklings need a reality check.

Moreover, there is currently a popular song out there by the group LMFAO called, “Sexy and I know it.” The presentation of the song may be incredibly perverse, but the meaning has a good message. The point of the song is that LMFAO knows they aren’t the most attractive people in the world, but they aren’t ashamed of the way they look; they embrace it. You’ll probably never hear me say this again, but one could learn from LMFAO.  

There is no possible way to measure beauty. The way a person looks is subjective. Every person has his preference in what a person should look like. A person could find a green zombie the hottest thing since Katy Perry. What I’m trying to say is you’re not ugly to everybody, so don’t get a tan, if you don’t need one. You don’t have to lose weight, if you don’t need to for health reasons. There is somebody out there who will find you stimulating just the way you are.