Every sunrise marks a new day, a new page or so you would think. It isn't always as easy as it seems. For each day mean another hidden face. We hide our true self from the world. We prefer to hide behind our painted mask. We wake up each day and hide our true identity under layers of make-up.

When we were little we never would have thought that there would come a time that we couldn't be our true self. Never would we have thought that simple things would become a problem. Our cute laughs turned fake. Our smiles faded , and our happiness became something of the past.

Everything changed as soon as we found the scale under the bathroom sink. An innocent piece of chocolate turned into a nightmare for as the digits on a scale define our beauty. As kids, we didn't care how we looked. We could go to town without worrying what others think of us. Our beauty didn't depend on our size but rather on how our hearts looked. We could eat and not care about the amount of food we take in.

We were loved for who we are and not for whom we could be. There were no extra expectations that we had to achieve. We were loved by all, but now it has changed. Now we have to pretend to be loved. We look at cover pages of magazines and define that as beauty. Our self-love faded like a candle in the wind. How can we have self-love if there is only self-hatred? How do we find beauty in ourselves if it is determined by others?

We fade into the darkness and hide with our demons in our minds. We all got our demons. The ones that keep you form speaking a word and asking for help. They keep us away from the ones we need the most. They hurt us with their hurtful words. They destroy our inner child.

Why do we let others define our beauty? Who gave others the right to define our beauty? Why do we need to hide our bodies and our identity? Why can't we be who we were meant to be? Why do we have to fit in and be like everyone else just to be loved?

Society has made us think that if we don't live up to certain standards we'll never be good enough. Society has molded and brainwashed us into who we are. We are controlled by what others think only learn to copy and paste. We learn that a bit of plastic makes others love you more but does it really do that or is it only temperary. Will all the love fade as your face starts to sag? Does being Barbie really make you happy?

Boys learn that they can't show emotions for a tear shed makes you weak. They have to learn how to fight for what they want. The first thing they get taught is how to catch a ball and then their fathers expect them to play football. Why are we defined by expectations of what others define as what fits by our gender?

We all are hidden behind a mask. Only to show our true identity when we are alone. How much better wouldn’t the world be if we could be who we are and not who we need to be? Life would be much simpler if we could be accepted for our true self and not for the mask we hide behind.

We live in a world where real people aren’t perfect and perfect people aren’t real. We get told to be real but as soon as you are you get criticized for being too real. You get told to express your true feelings but get bad mouthed when you speak your mind. What is the point then? Why do we have to hide our feelings from others just because they don’t agree? Why do we hide the truth from others and rather hurt them with lies?

Why is it that the faker one is the more compliments you get? Why do we need to be fake to get a compliment from others? Imagine how it would have been if everyone accepted us like the ones that truly love us. Would our lives be simpler? How would it be if there was no need for a mask to hide behind? Imagine we could wake up each morning knowing that everyone loves and accepts us. There would be no need to hide behind make-up. No need to fake smiles because there won’t be such a thing as a fake smile. Our smile would be real. We’ll show the real us without being ashamed for who we are.

We would be accepted with all our scars and faults. There would be no need to cover up our scars that tell a story of who we are. Our scars made us who we are so why hide who we were made to be?  We judge others for their scars but do we ever ask them how they got them in the first place? The old man we all look past because of his ugly scared face fought for his country. The girl with scars all over her legs suffers from an illness that’s slowly killing her. Why do we judge so easily?

Life would be better if you could be you without being judged for being you. So why worry what others think about you, be who you want to be and the people who truly love you will accept you. You are made to be you not someone else. Change the world with your smile but don’t let the world change your smile. In a flock of pigeons be a flamingo, be YOU.