Birthday Suits

7: Ben Williams

7: Ben Williams

 

            This is a beautiful project.

            Such an inspirational blog.

            Honestly, it's so wonderful that you're addressing these issues in our society.

            Comments were starting to get better for Belle. They weren't all positive. Some were filled with swear words and other abusive adjectives, but people were starting to recognise her intentions: challenging people to overcome society's expectations of what defined beauty.

            There was one comment, however, that made Belle smile the most.

            I completely agree with you. I think Peter is beautiful. The appreciation he has for others is so inspiring and even though people are so judgemental towards him, he never returns it. That takes courage. I guess I never really looked at it the way you did, and that's my biggest regret. Hopefully, I can start to see people the way you are now.

            It was left by an anonymous user, but it still meant that someone was taking one more step forward; recognising the magnificence in others and highlighting other factors that made the individual so unique. Belle hoped there would be other comments like that in the future.

            In the meantime, she continued to make more posts about people. Not just the underdogs of high school, but the queen bees too.

            We all go through different battles; sometimes mental, emotional, or physical. But regardless of our struggles, we still manage to overcome them; sometimes with scars visible to the human eye and sometimes internal wounds that are harder to recognise. Ben Williams is a warrior, a champion, and he wears the scars he received from multiple operations with pride. His skin is like a map; unknown destinations, mysterious routes, stories behind each scar; beautiful and mesmerising and waiting to be discovered and explored. And although blemishes in our skin are considered to be hideous and are encouraged to be hidden away with layers of fabric, I think his flaws are exquisite. Ben Williams may not think he's beautiful, but I do.