You are Beautiful!

Greetings to the Temple!

I wanted to share with you a couple experiences that happened last week and the outcome of them just day to day since.

Ok here we go! So some of you know I'm an Adjunct Professor at a Community College and this past week of course was leading up to Halloween. So I dressed up as a Jedi for my class (yup robes, lightsaber, all the fancy trimmings) and gave a lecture of Religion and Magic (and yup I included the George Lucas interview on Star Wars in my lecture notes). After my class, as I have a late class that ends at 8pm a dance was taking place at the college and I volunteered to help out a bit as most staff is long gone after 5pm.

Something magic happened. Besides all of the jokes about the Force, Jar Jar, etc, I had a lot of students that I have never met or have ever talked to open up to me about everything from Cos-playing to how I constructed my saber. I also got a couple very deep questions about life in general and why I chose this costume etc. Sure there were quite a few good natured jokes and every time someone told me "May the Force be with you" I smiled and responded "and also with you, Always!".

At the dance when I was helping with security I had a student come up from nowhere and hug me tight. She loved my outfit, and was so impressed she wanted me to join her Anime/Cosplaying Club. I responded I had no idea that was even on campus and we had a great conversation. She just gushed to me about how much she loved my outfit and that turned into a deeper conversation about acceptance and finding your place in society and how hard it is to conform. Here I was at 10:30pm talking to a student who was almost in tears because she found someone that she could relate to. She was so excited she kept jumping up and down. She then asked me if she could look at my saber which I immediately took it off my belt and handed it to her with a smile telling her not to look into the beam because it is a class 2 laser and can lead to seeing stars for two days afterwards.....(yes I really did....didn't think it was bright enough) She asked me which Jedi's saber it was and I giggled telling her that it was no ones, it was a custom job and there was not another like it in the world. That brought on a whole new bunch of excitement as she begged me to meet up with her to talk about costuming and hanging out. She really wanted a freind who she could geek out with. I said that I was a historical re-enactor as well and costuming is sort of a passion of mine. She then practically begged me to join her club. I said that I couldn't but because I was a Professor at the college I could help supervise/consult on it instead. She thanked me profusely at this point and practically skipped away back into the crowd of the dance.

Now I know the robes and the sabers and all of that is not required or even asked for at the Temple. I actually have owned the robes for many years before I even started here. However as I left the dance I was feeling pretty good about everything, the students were great, had a wonderful conversation with the Dean, the music was fun, food was great. Yup. I got in my car with a smile on my face. In fact I had been smiling and laughing so hard that my jaw was hurting pretty bad (the last two and half weeks prior I had two teeth pulled and an infected jaw). Being late there were few options for some icecream/icewater for my jaw, especially up in the great white north. So I stopped at Burger King and as I got out I got another couple Kenobi jokes and someone shouted out May the Force be with you! I waved enthusiastically and responded.

With my icewater and my small shake in hand I sat down in a booth out of the way by myself just to decompress and relax for a few minutes as it had been a long day and I still had a 45 minute drive ahead of me to get home. My jaw was hurting and I saw that part of my boots had actually torn while I was at the dance and I was focusing on that when this shadow loomed over me. I glanced up to see a very large gentlemen looking me up and down. He had a huge smile on his face and with the most sincere look on his face he said to me "You are beautiful, Thank you for being you".

I blinked a couple times, taken back a little bit. It had been a long time since anyone had said that to me and meant it. I smiled at him and thanked him. He winked at me as he walked out the door. "Beautiful! You are just Beautiful!"

Since I have a long drive home in the dark that got me thinking about my world a little bit and since the Pagan New Year was just around the corner I made a new resolution. I am going to tell one person each day, someone who needs a smile, someone who might just need a little sunshine in their lives that they are beautiful and mean it.

So with that, I challenge you my fellow Jedi. Tell someone, they are beautiful. Take those few minutes out of your day, to give someone a ray of sunshine, and watch what happens. I promise its pretty darn incredible! So there is your outlook for the week. Have fun and enjoy it. Don't forget to smile and tell someone they are beautiful.

Oh and because I'm known for posting cute critter pictures I'm sharing these. This weekend my husband and I made the decision to adopt a puppy. This little ball of adorableness is coming home with us tonight. I'm really excited, oh and by the way......his name.......is..............

Obi Wan Kenobi



(that is the name the rescue gave him....it was not me!)

YOU ARE BEAUTIFUL JEDI!

i actually do this quite often...

women seem to need it more than men, which is understandable considering societal pressures on perfection...i often find myself telling them:" who cares what society thinks, everyone is beautiful in some way. don't let anyone else convince you otherwise"

Thank you, Roz. This was an uplifting way to start my day and a good reminder to stop and take notice of everyone around me. Sometimes we just need to hear a kind word, and as Jedi, we should always strive to be a source of those words. You have represented yourself and all Jedi well with your actions.

And I love the puppy pic!

RyuJin wrote: women seem to need it more than men, which is understandable considering societal pressures on perfection...i often find myself telling them:" who cares what society thinks, everyone is beautiful in some way. don't let anyone else convince you otherwise"

Probably somewhat bizarrely, this is the sort of thing that I happen to talk about quite frequently with my male friends, and those of them with whom I have close and open/honest relationships admit that they too feel a very strong desire for people to compliment them and generally acknowledge recognition of their awesomeness as human beings on a deeper level than just "I like your hair" or "you look very dapper today" - but it's just not 'manly' (aka acceptable, in their opinion) to allow this kind of desire (i.e. insecurity) to be outwardly evident.

My (perhaps incorrect) guess is that most men would probably still feel a bit uncomfortable (or maybe just confused) if you told them simply "you are beautiful" - but try telling them "you have a beautiful soul" and I reckon that even if they laugh it off and pretend to be unaffected or amused, they'll probably appreciate it just as much as a woman would...

Good work Roz!

Obi-Wan meet Ahsoka!!
<<====== (see my avatar!)

V-Tog wrote:

RyuJin wrote: women seem to need it more than men, which is understandable considering societal pressures on perfection...i often find myself telling them:" who cares what society thinks, everyone is beautiful in some way. don't let anyone else convince you otherwise"

Probably somewhat bizarrely, this is the sort of thing that I happen to talk about quite frequently with my male friends, and those of them with whom I have close and open/honest relationships admit that they too feel a very strong desire for people to compliment them and generally acknowledge recognition of their awesomeness as human beings on a deeper level than just "I like your hair" or "you look very dapper today" - but it's just not 'manly' (aka acceptable, in their opinion) to allow this kind of desire (i.e. insecurity) to be outwardly evident.

My (perhaps incorrect) guess is that most men would probably still feel a bit uncomfortable (or maybe just confused) if you told them simply "you are beautiful" - but try telling them "you have a beautiful soul" and I reckon that even if they laugh it off and pretend to be unaffected or amused, they'll probably appreciate it just as much as a woman would...

i actually feel kind of insulted when complimented on my looks...partially because growing up i wasn't as "attractive" and was often the subject of ridicule,bullying, and various other forms of abuse....needless to say i became very jaded, eventually leading to me rejecting any form of social "acceptance"...i often feel insulted when someone that doesn't know me compliments me on something as insignificant as my looks...i don't even spend much time on personal "grooming"....i call it "peacocking"...i do the required hygienic stuff, washing etc, but i don't spend hardly any time in the mirror primping and preening....in fact i'll go weeks without looking in a mirror simply because i don't care....it does save me loads of time getting ready to go anywhere :lol:

Jedi roz!
That's what it's all about friend. Plz don't stop! Bliss is a different beast all together but totally attainable. If u ever needed encouragement on your path... there are good friends, Good words and ata boys...they r coo but it's times like that the FORCE Tells you... compliments you, strengthens you.

Keep on keeping on friend!

May the FORCE continue to be with you!

Thank you so much for sharing your story! I'm all smiles over here, and this totally made my day, not to mention warmed my heart.

thanks for sharing this Roz

Don't forget to smile and tell someone they are beautiful.

Errr... No thanks I don't want to get done for sexual harassment.