As I got older, I realized I was probably never going to be beautiful. At some point I just stopped trying to be beautiful and focused on trying to be smart. Somehow that seemed more achievable. It seemed more controllable.
I never asked for opinions about my appearance, but people were always happy to offer them anyway.
Besides being smart, I also tried out some other attributes — like being funny, kind and treating others with respect. I aced them all. Well, the being funny part is up for debate, but since I laugh at my own jokes so much, I figure I must be somewhat funny, right?
Being kind was easy, for the most part because I’ve never liked to hurt people’s feelings or make them uncomfortable because I knew what that felt like.
There is a certain freedom when you give up on being beautiful. People are always saying beauty is only skin deep, but I disagree. Beauty doesn’t have anything to do with skin at all. Beauty is only soul deep.
Have you ever met someone with average looks or someone the masses would claim to be downright unattractive, but when they smile it lights up the whole room? Their eyes sparkle so much it feels like you are staring into the universe filled with moons and stars?
Have you ever met someone that is so gentle, so patient, so kind that they radiate beauty?
Have you ever met someone who loves what they are doing so much that they actually glow when they talk about it? Have you ever been loved by a love so strong that you can barely even see the physicality of the person loving you? That’s soul beauty. That’s pure love. That’s the kind of stuff that makes people truly beautiful.
It’s also the only beauty that truly matters.
Beauty is not about how one looks from the outside; it is about what is in the heart. At the end of the day, that is all that really matters.
I’m more focused on big, contagious smiles, enthusiasm and loving others and treating people with respect. Mostly love.
People who love life, love themselves and love you are always going to be the most attractive people in the room. They have the kind of beauty that is going to matter most to you because they have soul beauty, and it is deeper than any other kind.
I try to be the best person that I can and live my life to the fullest every day.
I am Chauncey Dean a student at Grambling State University and I’m a senior majoring in mass communication with a concentration in broadcasting. I am proud of being the kind of person that I am because I do not try to be like people in the world. I am only being myself.
I want to continue to do positive things in my life, and my goals are to finish college and get a job in my field.
Chauncey Dean is a senior mass communication major from Ruston.