I just saw a horrible picture of skin tanning gone wrong for a lady. It brought the following quote to mind:
First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win.
Mahatma Gandhi
Isn't it amazing that the same very things 'they' once denigrated (black or dark skin, plump lips, thick body shape etc) are the same things 'they' crave for today?
They go to any length and sometimes end up hurting themselves, in order to get what they tried to make the people who had it free ab initio to jettision!
Botox, fillers of all sorts including cement, excessive tanning, fat extraction and deposit, pulling of lips etc have now become common place.
Doesn't it therefore make common sense to celebrate who you are and what you have?
The craze in Naija now is skin lightening, a fad that will ultimately have disastrous effects that negate short term gains!
I love what Paulie wrote to the fellas in Corinth...in whatever state you're called, therein abide!
If you're black, tall, short, plump, thick, bodacious or otherwise celebrate yourself!
The people and the one who will like you as you warts and all are waiting for you to come to yourself!
Se oti gbo?

Let me leave you with this song by Billy Joel:

JUST THE WAY YOU ARE

Don't go changing to try and please me
You never let me down before
Don't imagine you're too familiar
And I don't see you anymore

I wouldn't leave you in times of trouble
We never could have come this far
I took the good times; I'll take the bad times
I'll take you just the way you are

Don't go trying some new fashion
Don't change the color of your hair
You always have my unspoken passion
Although I might not seem to care

I don't want clever conversation
I never want to work that hard
I just want someone that I can talk to
I want you just the way you are

I need to know that you will always be
The same old someone that I knew
What will it take till you believe in me
The way that I believe in you?

I said I love you and that's forever
And this I promise from the heart
I could not love you any better
I love you just the way you are