If I could change one thing in the world to make it a more caring place, what would I change? I’ve often thought about this question and I always come up with the same answer. I would change the worlds perception of beauty. As a person who has been living on this planet for eighteen years, I have seen many people with facial ‘deformities’ and differences (both online and in person). I’ve seen the unnecessary mean comments and the harassment. I’ve seen the victims stop posting pictures or hiding what makes them different. In reality we have NO CONTROL over what we look like, so why do these differences matter so much? A little girl with treacher collins syndrome should be just as confident as her classmates, she shouldn’t even have to think that she will be treated different and stared at for something she was born with. A teenage boy with a facial tumor should be able to post his funny video sketches on youtube without the majority of the comments being ‘what happened to your face?’. A teenage girl shouldn’t have to weigh herself everyday and skip meals to grow her confidence. I have dealt with some of these personally, it is why I feel so passionate about the issue. I was born with a prominent ‘beauty mark’ on my right cheek. I didn’t even think about it until some of the boys in class would point it out and say things like ‘you would look better without it’. In the sixth grade I begged my mom to get it removed for me, I told her I was getting bullied and if it was gone I would feel better. She tried reasoning with me but I would not budge, we ended up seeing a specialist who did remove it but warned me I would have a scar to bear for the rest of my life. Six years later looking back, I do regret my decision. I don’t tell my mother I regret my decision because she would just blame herself. I was beautiful just the way I was, she would tell me that but I did not know how true those words were at the time. I never saw myself as beautiful, I saw myself as a monster that no boy would ever love. I would sacrifice anything so that no other girl would ever have to feel the self loathing that I felt. I see all this happening and I wonder what a caring place the world would be if our perception of beauty was not just physical. If we would see the person behind the face before disregarding them entirely. If we could show comments of understanding instead of ridicule. If we could praise personality instead of beauty. Although I have had many adverse experiences, I have not lost my hope in humanity. I believe that we can and will change, and that this change will make the world a more caring place on an exponential level.