Lately I have been thinking a lot about a girl I went to school with.  Let’s call her Sarah Wilson.  She was very pretty.

Not just in the objective way:  she looked exactly the way every heroine ever would have been described.  Long, blonde hair with natural highlights cut blunt between her shoulders and elbow.  Big blue eyes with long lashes.  A petite nose, cupid’s bow lips, and skin so clear it was almost translucent.  She was the epitome of what society deems female perfection.  Slender as a child, she became statuesque by high school and dressed according to the latest trends.  I thought she was nice, even though we’d never exchanged a word, and she was decidedly among the popular crowd. 

Now, I look around and I see Sarah Wilson’s everywhere.  People following the crowd, killing themselves, bronzing, dyeing, and dieting to be Sarah Wilson.  And the end result is not that they stand out for it, but that they blend in even more.

This Thanksgiving, be thankful for being an individual.  Be thankful that you can be anything you want to be and then be it.  You are born unique.  Do not let society beat that out of you.