They say be skinny but not too skinny. They say be girly and lady like, for that is pretty. They say be curvy but only in the right places. They say always have a smile on your faces. Who made such rules? Who were these people so cruel? Why can't I just be me? Slowly in my head the truth starts to creep. They too were never accepted for who they were. They too were shamed for every freckle, every curve. It is not their fault entirely, now I see. They just don't want us to face the hate they had to feel. In the process of getting the world to like us though, we started hating our own bodies. Taught to be somebody's instead of somebodies. Is it alright that they won't let us be ourselves? Shouldn't they know better since they've been through it themselves? The world before them changed them, got into their head. But we must not give in, or the real us will be dead.