School Testing: my paragraph

In time we are taught that hiding from conflict forever is impractical. At one point, the issue at hand hunts you down and ultimately you’re found. Standing up is inescapable. I’ve become aware that we all stand up for distinctive reasons. Some of us are environmentally conscious, some are animal lovers/fanatics and a small amount of us behave like we just got off the Peace Corps.  I’m neither. Actually, it’s always been my belief that people should learn to defend themselves, to grow a backbone and to know how to pick their battles. I changed my mind 1 month ago, when I talked to a former friend of mine. At that moment I realized that I was entirely out of line.  She was in a school where bullying seemed to be the student body’s focal pastime. It was nothing physical or horrific, just disquieting. I recalled of her as a striking, self-assured teenager. When I last spoke to her it seemed as if I were talking to a isolated, outwardly anorexic, insecure kid. The bullying had changed her from top to bottom. She told me everything about how it felt: the grief of having your entire self-worth distorted by disparaging observations and derogatory comments, the discomfort of having to walk through school feeling like a surplus and being mocked about your appearance consistently. To tell her I empathized would have been ironic. Previously, she had been picked on but infrequently enough so that I assumed it was none of my business. I should have stood up and I know that because now she doesn’t live here and I can’t go over to her school to protect her. I would stick up for anybody who is or has been intimidated to feel self-conscious and have body image issues.

Your body is the most valuable thing you have power over. If you can be motivated to feel awful about the greatest thing in your possession it’s apparent something is wrong.
I know what it feels like to be insecure. Too thin,too concentrated on my work and not enough makeup. People seek to force upon us society’s idea of good looks. A lot of times, we don’t get to recognize the value of what we already have. I’ve been told to gain weight, wear makeup, and straighten my hair by all my friends. From them, it was a straightforward encouragement to find ways to improve me. To be frank, I also gave out comments like that. All in the aim of making my friends look better. Better then what they looked like now.
I think its immoral to feel embarrassed with who we are: to have your
main goal be to lose weight and have an appealing exterior. Everyone should be acknowledged for who they are and not for who they could become. I would stand up against those who attempt to change people, just so that they correspond to what our civilization considers attractive and stylish. Pressuring our friends to focus on altering their looks and personality so that they can fit in has no purpose. It ruins the person’s confidence, body image and creates issues with accepting who they are.

This is why I would stand up against those who intimidate others into feeling ill at ease with their appearance. It’s dreadful going through life not appreciating the person you are. Its awful having to live with struggling to exist as a silhouette of everyone else’s judgment except for yours. I find it disheartening when I see the world turning their backs on people who can’t adjust, who cant look as good or doesn’t have a body like everybody else. It’s unjust and this is the one thing I would unquestionably stand up for. Anyone who is ashamed or uncomfortable with who they are. These people need to know that you should never transform or modify who you are. This is what makes us human: each person is atypical. Shapes, sizes and looks differ according to everyone and should not be just a group or society’s outlook. I would stand up so that people can learn to value who they are as well as who they can be and can make their own choices according to what they want for themselves.