One of the core values of Villanova, as an Augustinian university founded on the teachings of St. Augustine is that students and faculty learn from each other. As you imagine yourself as a member of the Villanova community, what is one lesson you have learned in life that you will want to share with others?
The scar on my face
Girls with haircuts, no makeup on, not even the slightest lip gloss, maybe some 'Vaseline' on the lip to prevent cracks, wearing a beige blouse, a brown skirt, brown flat sandals to match and on the ear, a pair of tiny copper earrings or nothing at all. This is what one would see at a typical gathering of students in my secondary school.
'Beautiful ladies' at first sight will usually be found wearing a beautiful attire with accessories to match and a nice hairstyle or the latest style in 'Vogue'. In my secondary school, which happened to be catholic and a girl's school, "every student is beautiful", our headmistress always said and we all laughed every time she said that because we knew how awful we looked. We always compared ourselves to women (beautiful ladies) we saw in magazines and they were truly beautiful, we all admitted. Our headmistress always told us that the word beauty meant eloquence, confidence, decency, intellect, respect for one's self and others but we defined beauty to be make-up, tight clothes to show your womanly shape and other things we saw the showbiz people wear (could one blame us?).I did not pay so much attention to her definition of beauty until the arrival of someone who was a great illustration of what she meant.
In my last semester, second year, in senior high school, a transfer student came to our school and I will forever remember her. She walked into the class elegantly; she wore a warm smile on her scarred face and she talked with so much sweetness and confidence. I just wanted to talk to her and when I finally had the chance to, I was amazed that a girl my age could talk like that. She talked with so much experience and the next thing I knew, I was asking her why she was so beautiful and she answered: the scar on my face (how can a scar make you beautiful for Christ's sake? I thought). I don't know and would probably never know how she got that scar because she left the next semester but one thing I know is that she got it through a very bad experience.
The semester she left, I knew I had learnt something, that beauty can be defined in so many ways. One can be beautiful by dressing like what my friends and I saw in the magazines. Another person could be beautiful because of what she has gone through and how she reacts to it. It could be the way one behaves, walks, talks or eats. I eventually agreed to what my headmistress said. We were beautiful. Aside our academics, we were taught to be young ladies, to be fashionable but decent, to talk well, to walk briskly, and to respect one another, to help people in need and many more. That is what made us beautiful.
Now that I have graduated, I do like to use a little makeup. As I walk around, I feel beautiful and I see beauty in people that others cannot see. I have learnt what true beauty is. I can see myself sitting with beautiful ladies and handsome gentlemen in the Villanova community sharing with them what I have learnt in life about beauty. If I should go back to my school at a time of a gathering, I know I would see beautiful young ladies, who will become the future leaders in the world, dressed decently and proud of whom they are.
Hi Nessa, sorry I didn't respond until now. Lots of people, like you, got only one answer around the end of december... it was busy! :-)
This comma should be moved, but it's no big deal:
...sandals to match, and on the ear a pair of tiny copper earrings or nothing at all.
In order to avoid presumptuousness, add "often":
As I walk around, I feel beautiful and I see beauty in people that others often cannot see.
:-)
