What's In the Eye of the Beholder [Mariah Carey Say What?]

I've come up with a new ideology- okay, it's not really "mine", but I stumbled upon it without the help of others. I noticed it solely from my surroundings [haha- that's kind of ironic- but you'll get it later].

You might have heard the saying "Beauty is in the eye of the beholder," by Plato. That's the truth, but I don't think that's all of it.

The quote itself is referring to the importance and individuality of each person and their opinions. In each beholder, there is possibly an entirely new reality [compared to our own] that exists. Therefore, the idea of perspective comes into place.

For example, close your eyes. Imagine the color you were brainwashed by your kindergarden teacher to believe it's called blue. The color of the sunny sky, the deep, mysterious ocean, and some peoples' eyes.

But there's a catch. This blue- is it the same as someone elses' blue? Sure, we know things by the same color- like the grass is always called green, but what if my green is really your purple? Afterall, "that which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet."

Next, consider the quote directly pertaining to beauty. Beauty is an opinion, not a fact. Everyone can look at a picture [or even a person] and argue whether or not they are "beautiful."

I realized this one day when me and my best friend were talking. We were talking about a girl that I was relatively jealous of for her looks, and he blatantly said that he thought she was "ugliest girl in our school." I was completely shocked upon hearing this, just in the fact that it was such a clash compared to mine.

Speaking of my best friend again, he always calls himself fat. And ugly. When he definitely is not fat OR ugly.

Also, there's a little thing my Mom told me one time about Mariah Carey. Yeah, the gorgeous Mariah Carey. After telling about my idea of myself being ugly, she told me that Mariah Carey only wanted one side of her face actually photographed, mostly because she thought that one was her "pretty side."

I write this now, completely thinking of the hundreds of thousands of teenagers struggling with self-image and pressure to be "beautiful."

But they can't be beautiful when beautiful is different to everyone.

They'll just keep on suffering until they finally see that their struggle is endless, in constant battle between their own diminishing self-image.

I myself used to have a diminishing self-image- an image that kept me from accomplishing what I had dreamed of, and from following what I loved.

So, I guess the lesson I learned was that people have different views of everything. And that people are misguided in life. So, don't live your life trying to live up to this idea of being "beautiful." That's your own opinion, dude, and don't forget it.