"Generation"

"Generation" and "Flawz" by Caitlin Crosby via YouTube.

I found this song...a couple months ago or so. It is one of my absolute favorites and I've been wanting to do a post involving this song since I started my blog. I love the message Crosby gives. And she explains it better than I can so you'll just have to have a listen.

And then I read this, this morning before work:

"You are not your bra-size, nor are you the width of your waist, nor are you the slenderness of your calves. You are not your hair color, your skin color, nor are you a shade of lipstick. Your shoe-size is of no consequence. You are not defined by the amount of attention you get from males, females, or any combination thereof. You are not the number of sit-ups you can do, nor are you the number of calories in a day. You are not your mustache. You are not the hair on your legs. You are not a little red dress. You are no amalgam of these things. 

You are the content of your character. You are the ambitions that drive you. You are the goals that you set. You are the things that you laugh at and the words that you say. You are the thoughts you think and the things you wonder. You are beautiful and desirable not for the clique you attend, but for the spark of life within you that compels you to make your life a full and meaningful one. You are beautiful not for the shape of the vessel, but for the volume of the soul it carries."

I discovered it on Little Chief Honeybee. The original link can be found on there.

Isn't it crazy how much the media influences our lives? From what we wear, to the things we say, to how we think about ourselves. Every day we are surrounded and consumed by movies, TV shows, music videos, magazines, commercials, newspapers, the internet...

I feel like our generation is hit hard by the media. We have to dress a certain way, look a certain way to be attractive and wanted by the people around us. We have to look skinny and good in that dress or swimsuit in order to be noticed and "the pretty one." I think it's sad that every time I look in the mirror I wonder if people are going to think I look okay the way I am. Because I see the gorgeous skinny women on the TV, in advertisements, even at work, and wonder how I can even compete with people like that. Compete in getting the attention from guys, or just hoping that my outfit and hair look better than that girl who sits 5 rows over from me. Because "pretty" is defined by what is in fashion magazines, or how attractive that actress in that movie is.

Girls wish they looked like the supermodel in the magazine ads and the guys want to be the superhero in the movies. People stuff themselves full of plastic so their faces and bodies can look "better" or more attractive, starve themselves because it will make their waists slim down, wear less clothes because that is supposedly more appealing to the world. I don't understand these things. 

The media is a never ending and it will always be there, influencing us, pushing us, and driving our lives. I just wish, it didn't fill people with doubts about who they are, how they look, how they feel when they are walking down the street or looking in a mirror. We are influenced people and how we think can be manipulated and the business takes advantage of that. Because that's how they sell their products and ideas.

...And isn't it ironic that the girl writing this, is in a media driven profession that provides these influential companies with their commercials, advertisements, photography, and graphics.

:)

So those are my thoughts for the day. I could probably go on and on about this topic because it can stretch in so many directions. But, for some reason I am having a hard time writing about this topic because it seems it is a lot easier to discuss in a face-to-face conversation. In writing, things get wordy and lengthy. Oh well. Life should just be about being happy, healthy, and feeling alive.