Breaking Free from Shallow Judgments Such as Judging By Appearance

In today’s society, judging someone by their appearance is a natural habit that most people do. They may not mean to do it but it still happens and most of the time a negative judgment is what is thought of. Nowadays, everyone is criticized at first glance which means what people see on the outside is what a person is going to be judged on. People are generally criticized for their body weight, height and different body features. Personally, my whole life I have always been judged for my body. For starters, my weight is the most prominent feature that I am judged for just because I am too skinny. The next feature is how I look too young for my age. And the last feature would be how short I am. These outside features of my body bring beneficial and insulting aspects to my life, which are mostly insulting factors. And so, people judge others not based on their personality or character but rather on how they appear or display themselves.

Growing up I have always been very tiny and thin. Ever since I was a baby till now. When I was a baby I was so underweight and it is so ironic that to this day I am still underweight for my age. No matter how much I eat or drink I stay at the weight I am. My weight is something that I am judged for constantly. When I was younger, I was always told that I am too skinny. I would be compared to a tree or a mop because I had no figure and all you could see when you looked at me were my bones popping out through my skin. Now, I would like to say, that I have gained more weight over time, obviously, but I am still skinny in many people's eyes. When growing up, I would be told by family members and my parent’s friends that I need to eat more or that I do not look like I eat at all. Similarly, when I would be at family events, many family members would add extra food to my plate and say “hopefully you become fatter after this meal”. An incident that I experienced a lot as a child, due to being skinny, was that people would grab my wrist and show me how their whole hand can wrap around it. Then I would be asked to wrap my hand around their wrist and be told that they have normal wrists and I do not. People would laugh and tease me about how tiny mine are and how anyone’s hands can wrap around it.

At that age, anything that had to do with my weight affected me a lot but since I was so young I did not know how to fix being so skinny. Having to hear, all the time, that “you’re so skinny” or “eat some food” only led me to hate myself when I was younger. Now, I am more confident with how skinny I am. Do not get me wrong I still do not like being skinny but when I hear comments about my weight I am able to handle them. These days, when I get comments about my weight, they tend to be a little more positive. Some people tell me I can go into modelling and others just wish they had a body like mine. These judgments have helped me love my body a little bit more but I still wish to not be skinny. In today’s media, you prominently see girls with an hourglass figure. Regularly seeing these girls only brings my self-esteem down because I think that it is the new norm and my body does not look like that. Even though I am skinny I would say that it does have its pros and cons but is more of a negative trait when it comes to today's society.

A lot of seniors wish to look young to have a younger appearance. They wish to go back to their past and look like how they use to look in today's society. This is a personal judgement that someone makes about themselves but is something that I am judged for constantly. In high school and in university I am always told I look too young for my age. “You’re eighteen? I thought you were twelve” is something that I am repeatedly being told. This is supposed to be a positive judgment because many people when they are older want to look younger, however, for me, it is not. Whenever I want to buy lottery tickets, I have to show my I. D. and sometimes I am asked if the I. D. is real or fake because I do look so young. This makes me furious because I am eighteen and should be allowed to purchase tickets without having an investigation going on about my age. Since I do look so young, it also gives off the impression that I am not mature enough. For example, this is not a big deal but it affects me negatively because I feel left out, when I am hanging out with my cousins they tend to forget how old I am since I look young.

So they will be talking about their boyfriends or any boy troubles that they have and never ask me about my opinion on the matter because they think I am twelve and not dealing with any boys. Like I said this is not a major problem but affects me because I do want to fit in with my cousins. Another negative example that I deal with daily is being compared to my younger sister about how she looks older than me. My sister is three years younger than me but looks like she is my age and I look like I should be her age. When my sister and I are out, people are always asking her about problems that she has no clue about. For instance, when she and I go out she is the one who is asked about the financial aspects of something. I am supposed to be the one who is asked any questions about finance when we are out because my sister does not know anything about financial issues. The only positive factor about looking so young is that I am able to get certain children priced items. For example, I can get movie tickets for the child's price and I can also eat off of the kid’s menu when I go to restaurants. Some may say that looking younger than your actual age is a blessing but personally, it is not for me and only brings my self-esteem down.

People tend to look at someone who is short as not socially desirable. To most people being tall is what looks most appealing in our society. This wish, of being tall, is something that I have always wanted to be since I am so short compared to many people that I know. Being short brings a lot of restrictions to oneself. For example, not being able to go on certain rides, not being able to see around other people, and being made fun for your height. Due to my height, people often think that I am quiet and that I do not have much power. Usually, people who are taller are looked up to and admired more. Despite the factor that being short is a physical appearance quality, there are many negative factors, to me, that has to do with personality. To me, I feel like when I say something or share a comment on a topic it might not be listened to because I am short. This is something that is ridiculous to say but it is how truly I feel. In general, my height is something that affects me in many negative ways that have to do with my personality rather than my appearance.

I personally believe that judgements made by others come from the jealousy of what they do not have. When family members made comments about my weight or people judged me based on my age, I always told myself and still believe that people are saying these comments to me because they do not have what I have. And I judge myself because I am jealous of what others have that I do not have whether it be a nice body or that they are the perfect height. With that being said, my body is what makes others and myself judge me. If my body was not skinny or if I was taller I would feel more confident and less criticized. People judge others from the first glance of their body, due to the fact that they may want to put others down to make themselves feel better.

All in all, people are criticized for their appearance, typically their body. They can be judged for the littlest things that their body displays which may lead them to live a miserable life. For me, I have been judged multiple times based on my weight, being skinny. I have also been judged based on how I look younger than my actual age. And finally, I’ve been judged for my height which causes restrictions to myself. Ultimately, people judge others not based on their personality or character but rather on how they appear or display themselves. It may seem quicker to judge someone based on their body, however, it may not be the ideal way. This approach must be avoided due to the fact that people have more qualities on the inside rather than on the outside.