"For some, beauty can be a short-lived tyranny, but true beauty has no masquerade. We should never allow insecurity to dull the beauty we were born with. Instead, we should let beauty be our power and our smile its sword, for every bit of happiness is worth fighting for. There is no need to take photographs of me anymore, for I now possess the kind of beauty that never leaves me, and do you know, I become more beautiful the more I can feel the beauty in me.
Many like to compete in the beauty stakes, but not I. What is the point of competing with the flower next to you to be the best in show; just bloom I say, for beauty begins when you choose to be yourself and starts to wither when you place too much store on the applause and appeal of others. Those who choose to live off the compliments of others are sacrificing their own power upon the altar of another's criticism. Just because I have an artificial leg, why should I be confined to wearing smart slacks during summer months when everyone else is wearing shorts?
I know of nothing that says a woman with one leg, one arm or one breast should hide their beauty away from the world to placate the possible discomfort of others! I may have Tourette's Syndrome, but believe me that this condition is much more than the embarrassment caused by me letting blast with a lot of swearing whenever I get tic'd off.
As I grow older and my outer looks start to fade, I shall allow my beauty to steal ever inwards. I shall still remain beautiful because I shall give myself the power to say that I am beautiful. If I can do that, then surely there is hope for all of you that the great divide between the beautiful and the ugly will no longer exist once we all choose to be beautiful and to see the beauty in all others.
So keep your head held high; look upward not low, for it is in the darkest of the dark that we best see the most brilliant of stars." William Forde: April 6th, 2018.