So now that we’ve identified the problem and zeroed in on two possible causes, what do we do about it?  The answer is simple: Live!

Some people are honestly afraid to live their life to the fullest.  Here’s how I look at it: When I’m taking my last breath, am I going to think, “Gee, I wish I’d done that when I had the chance…”?  I don’t want that.  I want to think, “That was so worth it.”

Keep in mind that I’m talking about things that don’t necessarily have to be so large-scale as to be a life-altering experience.  I’m talking about the little things that make life special.  For instance, who says that waffles have to be breakfast food?  And when did it become illegal for adults to race shopping carts across an empty parking lot?  Don’t be afraid to do the little things that bring a smile to your face- and undoubtedly others’!- just because you don’t want to look silly.

Here’s an example for you:

Last week, I was doing some grocery shopping for my mom at nine at night.  By that time, most people are tired and just want to go home.  You’re lucky if you can get a strained smile out of your cashier.  Well I had just wandered into the produce department and was eyeing some fantabulous berries when a fun, upbeat song began playing on the overhead radio.  Before I knew it, I was humming and dancing my way around to the apples and pears.  Of course, as I was really getting into it, the produce manager and an elderly woman rounded the corner and I was caught red-handed.  (Be aware that my dancing has been compared to the movements of an angry mosquito.)

I wasn’t in trouble.  There’s no law against dancing and humming.  And I didn’t get looks of disapproval.  If anything, it was approval I received.  Later, when we met up again in the checkout line, the old lady even told me that I’d made her evening.  So if dancing brings a smile to your face and the faces of others, why don’t we do it more often?

Now there are some places where dancing and humming may be inappropriate (I wouldn’t recommend humming Tchaikovsky’s 1812 Overture at your Aunt Mildred’s funeral), but it’s perfectly fine in most places.

So don’t be afraid to do fun things.  Don’t.  I’ll admit to a moment or two of hypocrisy (I’ll choke on an olive before I ask a guy out on a date), but I’m working on that.  You guys can work on it with me.

For those of you who aren’t quite sure what to do to achieve the desired effects, here are some ideas:

- Sing along to the radio on your way to work.  Groove, even.  If you pull up to a red light and the person in the car next to you gives you a funny look, smile at them and sing louder.

- If you have hardwood, tile, marble, or linoleum floors, put on your best pair of socks and see how far and how fast you can slide.

- The next time you go to an amusement park, get in line for that terrifying free-fall ride you’ve stayed away from your whole life.  Remember what I said about regretting not having done something when taking that final breath?  Go ahead.  Be an adrenaline junkie for at least two minutes out of your life.

- It doesn’t always pay to play it safe; brighten up your work outfit with brightly colored/patterned socks when you go in on Monday.

- You know that urge to dance that you get when you’re listening to the radio and eating a bowl of cereal?  Yeah, I bet you already know what I’m going to say.  Dance!  Dance like you mean it!

- Smile at a stranger.  This is a biggie.

- Even better- strike up a conversation with a stranger.

- Climb a tree.  Any tree.  And when you get to the top, look down at all of the little ants (aka pedestrians) and picture little targets on top of their heads (I call this “pigeon vision”).  On your way down, pause to hang upside down on one of the branches.

- Drag your friends and bystanders into your antics.

- Take a nap.  When you wake up, have a glass of milk and some cookies.  For those of you who are, sadly, diabetic, swap out that milk with juice or rootbeer.  No bottled water!

These are just a few of the many things you can do.  Do whatever makes you feel alive as long as it doesn’t harm others.  If one person out of every one hundred were to do something fun, and that inspires two other people- well, let’s not get into the multiplier effect.  Let’s just say that maybe we can convince people to put some more pizzazz into their lives.

I’ve discovered that many people have the great misfortune of not understanding just what a hybrid car is. So let’s see what we might be able to clarify. The gasoline-electric hybrid car is the most common and it is exactly what its name implies; gas is usually used to give the car its “get up ‘n go” while the electric power is used to maintain, more or less, cruising speeds. Hybrid cars get at least 300 miles between refueling, although most get more. In fact, Toyota’s Prius gets up to 650 miles per tank of gas! That’s 60/51 MPG as compared to the Avalon’s 22/31 MPG.

One common myth about hybrid cars is that they have to be plugged in to “recharge”. Wrong! Hybrid cars do not need to be plugged in, although those who wish for such a model may soon be satisfied with an option DaimlerChrysler is currently developing.

Another myth is that one must sell their firstborn child to be able to afford a hybrid car. Wrong again! The Honda Insight has a starting price of roughly $19,000 and boasts an average of 60 MPG. Sure, that may be more expensive than a Chevy Cavalier, but after one factors in the price of gas and the like, the end numbers will be about equal.

Now that I’ve debunked the two myths I’ve encountered most, let’s move on to motivation. Why should someone buy a hybrid? Well, there is the warm and fuzzy feeling you can get from knowing you’re doing your part to minimalize mankind’s negative impact on the environment. However, if that and the diminished dent in your wallet are not enough, perhaps it’ll help to know that many local and regional areas offer incentives such as tax credits. Some cities and states even offer exemption on sales tax on the purchase of a hybrid, certain vehicle inspection responsibilities, and parking meter fees. This differs from state to state, of course, so feel free to look into your local area’s treatment of hybrid cars and their drivers.

So now we have not one or two, but three good reasons to go hybrid. Who wouldn’t want to save money on gas, help the environment, or take advantage of the multiple incentives the government (and even some corporations) hand hybrid drivers? Moreover, an increase in the demand for hybrid cars may help fuel the research for alternative energy sources. Gas won’t be around forever. Why not nip that in the bud?

So drive well today for a better tomorrow.

Disclaimer: I must admit that I do not drive a hybrid car. Yet. I need a job first. Until then, however, I shall continue to walk and carpool. Thus I cover my ass and shirk the label of hypocrisy. Yay!

Bush proclaimed that it is our duty to spread democracy among the world’s many nations, that it is our duty to battle tyrants and fascists. I ask you this, Mr. President:

When thousands of our young men and women are done dying on foreign soil fighting a war that shouldn’t even be, who will be left to defend the home turf? When our soldiers are all dead, having done your handiwork to rid the world of “Islamic fascists”, will foreign soldiers come here to save us from the “Christian fascists” sitting in D.C.?

I’m so tired of this war. I was tired of it before it began. And the longer this goes on, the more I believe that I cannot, in good conscience, pursue the career I had initially planned for.

Now that I’ve all but declared my intention to pursue a career in academia, I feel free to explain myself without fear of marring my seemingly perfect public record. After finishing my undergraduate studies, I had planned to get a government job in one of the beaurocratic branches. My excuse was that I felt I could work for a better, more peaceful future if I “worked from the inside”, but the truth is that I wanted the benefits that would come with said job. The job security would have been phenomenal, I would have health and dental and life insurance taken care of, and I would have the opportunity to learn new languages and travel.

I don’t think I could handle the guilt that would come with working in that field with that branch. And because I have no one to support but myself, I don’t need to worry about whether or not I receive those benefits. My parents are worried about my choice to continue my education and take a more “liberal” path. I know they only want what’s best for me, but they seem to have the traditional American mentality; such a mentality is one of individualism, which isn’t always the best approach.

Individuality is wonderful and I enjoy mine, but most hard-hearted “individualists” seem to lose sight of the greater good. They acknowledge its existence but do nothing to work for it, instead working only to further themselves and their nuclear family while ussaging any emerging guilt with the occasional donation to the Salvation Army. For instance, most Americans of my socioeconomic class would find great joy in owning and driving a Hummer. They enjoy the status symbol it provides and ignore the impact their choice has in the greater scheme of things. Would it really be so hard for them to drive a Prius instead?

I want to do my part to better myself, my nation, and the world. Even if it is something as simple as donating blood at a blooddrive or taking a weekend out of a busy schedule to help the Habitat for Humanity work on a house, it doesn’t take much to help. Sometimes, all it takes is a voice.

And I fear that the extreme individualism of my peers and their apathy have combined to make us the most useless generagion history may ever look upon. Most don’t care about their neighbors and many care even less about the people they pass on the street on their way to work or class. We lack cohesion and a voice. If we somehow gain one- for we already have motivation- would it be possible to gain the other?

This is best illustrated by our current situation, as I have already described it. If Americans learned to stand together and lend their voice to cause, we wouldn’t be in the pathetic position we’re in now. We wouldn’t be in a war and we wouldn’t be making asses of ourselves in the international forum. And I’m willing to bet that Bush wouldn’t be in office right now…

At this point, I’m often so happy when I meet a classmate who stands for a cause- even if I don’t agree with them- that I gain just a little bit of hope for our future. If you are willing to fight for something or even lend your voice to a cause, then you have proven you’re not just some brainless sack of flesh going through the motions of life. And that is a great thing.

So let me leave all of you with this:

Have a cause, a purpose. Whether your cause is as grand as fighting AIDS or as humble as helping preserve an endangered species of fungus, know that you are doing a great thing. One publicised cause is no better than a little-known one. No effort in a cause goes to waste unless you allow it to. Make a difference.

Prove to me that I’m right in saying one person really can make a difference.

Prove to me that you won’t stand by and watch events unfold.

Prove to me you’re human.

"What," you might ask, "could get someone like our dear Raquel so worked up?"

I'll tell you what had me so worked up that I neglected my ambrosia-like mug of coffee: "El dia sin immigrantes."  Better known to most of us as May 1st's "day without immigrants" protest.  My argument makes me sound like a hardass, and even I admit that it's harsher than most of what I say, but I feel that my words are reasonable.

I normally have a very common-sense, very liberal approach to political issues, as any of my previous posts may attest.  I suppose that's yet another reason my argument sounds so…  bitchy.  Here's the run-down:

So you, a hypothetical illegal immigrant, want to live in the U.S.A.. Fine. Fantastic.

You have a job. Even better.

You don't like what the government is doing and you wish to protest? Too fucking bad. You want us to give you the right to vote? Again, too fucking bad. You're not a legal citizen of this country, and therefore have no right to protest. If you don't like my government's stance on illegal immigration, why don't you just stroll your happy ass back across that goddamn border?

I understand that not everyone participating in May 1st's nation-wide boycott is an illegal immigrant. Fine. As long as you're a legal immigrant, I don't care what you protest or how you do it, so long as it's a peaceful demonstration. In fact, I generally applaude people for expressing their vehement feelings and opinions, even if I don't agree with their views. Part of being an American is being allowed to express your views without fear of government prosecutuion.

Now I'll be the first to admit that the living conditions in many other countries are far worse than what we have over here. I've been to several border towns on the U.S.A.-Mexico border and I know that if I were from one of those towns, my ass would be trying to jump that fence, too. However, I would not participate in this sort of demonstration. What I find funny is that, technically, those who are taking part in the demonstration and are illegal immigrants can be taken into authoritative custody for protesting. They're not legal citizens, and therefore are not under the protection of the first Amendment of the Bill of Rights.

Moreover, this boycott may have immediate results, but I can promise you that a sustained boycott wouldn't do anything other than exploit one of America's greatest characteristics. The United States of America is nothing if not an adaptive nation. We assimilate and influence cultures. We can and have mobilized for war overnight. We can go from being a backwater nation to a world power. We can go from being an intesive-agricultural society to an industrial society in the blink of an eye. I can promise you that if thousands of illegal immigrants forever swore off their jobs to "observe the economic impact and attempt to prove that the U.S. cannot function without them," then thousands of job openings will fill up rather quickly. Either jobless legal citizens (and there are many of us) will be hired for the jobs, or new efficiency measures will be put into place. So go ahead. Boycott. I dare you. We are not so stagnant a nation that we cannot do without illegal immigrants.

At any rate, I'm pissed off. Sure, the illegal immigrants do jobs the rest of us avoid. I've said that before, and I'll say it again. And do I think it should be easier for people to immigrate and become legal citizens of our country? Of course! Hell, the United States of America was built by immigrants! But don't you dare slip across a border and then assume my government and I owe you a damn thing. My family has not served this country for almost a full century now, only to help shoulder the burden of illegal immigrants. I don't see illegal immigrants stepping forward to serve this country. I don't see them paying taxes, even though many of them are allowed to take advantage of our Welfare system. And I don't see many of them learning English.

I invite Mexicans, Cubans, Russians, Chinese, and all other foreigners to become legal immigrants, if they so choose. And you know what? If taking the first step to a happy life is to live as an illegal immigrant, I'll not stand in your way. However, you should do so knowing that I invite only legal immigrants to enjoy the priviledge of the rights to vote and to protest.

So to those of you who are illegal immigrants and have participated in these demonstrations, I have just five words for you: Protest THIS. I dare you.

Our counterparts, the core of the MTV generation, are those who don't mind charging things because their parents will pay the bill while they're in college.  They don't care what they break because someone else will take care of it.  They have no concept of personal responsibility and are completely comfortable with phrases like "American idiot" and "my baby's daddy".  Often, the most accurate way of tagging someone as being a part of the generation core is their broken speech.

I can't stand it when I go to the grocery store and some fake Emo chick or ghetto queen rings up my groceries and then says something unintelligible.  People bitch about the hardworking Hispanics that jump borders to get here because they usually don't speak English.  Well you know what?  Half of our generation doesn't speak English, either!  How about some annunciation?  There's a novel idea.  I can't believe no one's thought of that.  Or maybe we should try some vocabulary expansion.  Oh, I like that one.  That's a really good idea.

Seriously, how can anyone expect to earn respect or make it somewhere in the real world (and no, I'm sure as hell not talking about the show) if they speak like an idiot?  I can't think of any well-paying job that requires someone to speak Ebonics or Valleygirl.  If you're telling your friends a story and you use the words "like" and "you know", or you constantly pause for an "uh", you don't sound cool.  You sound stupid.

And speaking of stupid, let's take a moment to consider the way people dress.  The way someone dresses almost always accurately depicts their behavior in a social setting.  Why would someone dress like an extra from a rap music video?  Sorry, I wear underwear and jeans, not assfloss.  Besides, I'd rather attract someone with a brain, not some guy with gold teeth and a pimped out car.  Furthermore, what's the fascination with pants that hang halfway off your butt?  Never have I looked at a man with saggy jeans and thought, "Oh, I'd like to tap that ass."  I usually think, "If he couldn’t snap me in two with those arms, I'd pants him and run like hell."  And I've never been to jail, but I'm pretty sure saggy pants in prison society means you're someone's bitch.

Likewise, someone with a "I <3 Ashton" T-shirt doesn't make a grand impression.  First of all, that's just plain creepy.  Borderline obsessive, I'd say.  Secondly, you're sending out the message, "I want to spread my legs for some attractive male that I've never met."  That's lust, not love.  Get it straight.  Yes, Orlando Bloom, Ashton Kutcher, and Jonny Depp are very attractive men.  However, no sane person would rip off their clothes and scream, "Take me!" as soon as one of them stepped in the room.  Besides, Jonny Depp is older than my dad, and that would be gross.

Clothing and personal responsibility aside, there's also bearing and brains to think about.  It's not cool to walk normally, nor is it cool to read or watch movies with a substantial plot.  Why is this?  Why is it so cool to slouch like some broken, beaten servant?  Why is it cool to listen to music so loudly that windows rattle and cups shake on their shelves?  Quite frankly, I don't see the appeal of musical lyrics like, "I'm gonna slap that bitch ho," and, "I cut myself because it makes the pain go away."  And what the hell makes Austin Powers so much better than Amelie?  There is hardly any intellectual cultivation in our generation- or at least that of the American youth.  The MTV generation expects to be taken care of and entertained.

The people of the MTV generation would all be much better off if they would just pick up a book and turn off TRL for a change.  And the country as a whole could do without the MTV mentality.  Don't get me wrong- different people are like spices.  They make the world interesting.  But some people are just tasteless and suck.  They want the world to conform to their whims and I'm willing to bet most of them still have their moms tie their shoes.

Now I know all of these are generalizations and there are always exceptions to stereotypes, but before you spit your disagreement in my face, consider this: When was the last time a police officer, professor, or doctor walked into a room, wearing pants that were falling off their hips or shorts so short that they spread their cheeks and said, "Hey yo, whatcha'll goin' do wit dat, ya ho?"

Let's face it.  Some people (usually from the core of the MTV generation) are like a Slinky- not really good for anything, but they bring a smile to your face when you push them down the stairs.  If the world is to survive the mistakes of our generation, lets hope those that follow us have the will and ability to clean up after us.

Just how many people speak English is arguable, especially since some might be satisfied with being able to get by in an airport, while others might set the standards at full fluency.  Regardless of what one's standards might be, no one can say that the spread of English is nothing less than spectacular.  World War II gave English its first big boost of the century, when Standard American English (SAE) took over the radio waves.  Computers- more specifically, the birth of the Internet- gave English the foothold it needed to take over the world and usher in the new century.  All over the world, non-native speakers of English are exposed to and learn our language.  So many, in fact, that the number of those who speak English as a second language greatly outnumber those for whom English is the primary language.  To further bring this point home, the number of native Cantonese speakers who learn English outnumber us native speakers.

The fact is that English is the current language of politics, economics, culture, and science.  Do we take this for granted?  Of course!  Is there a possibility that English may lose its top spot?  Of course there is.

In fact, I happen to agree with the aforementioned fervor-sparking article in that English is very likely to be taken over and/or lose its importance in lieu of another language (say, Spanish or Hindi).  I do, however, disagree with the article in how English will lose its position.  The article argues that technology will have everything to do with the decline of English.  While I do agree with the idea the development of future technologies will play an important role, I believe that sheer numbers will place the final blow.

My main focus in this point is China.  In just the past decade, China has exhibited an amazing spurt of growth and development.  If English doesn't give way to Mandarin or Cantonese, then it will be irreparably altered.  A language is always changed by those who speak it and there's no stopping the process.  For example, the word "father" has a long history.  The Sanskrit word "pitar" (pronounced 'peetahr') became the Latin "pater" ('pahter').  Latin, being the widespread language of law as dictated by the Romans, had some impact on the language of the northern Germanic tribes.  They borrowed "pater", which eventually became "vater" ('fahter') due to the tendency of Germanic languages to soften and sometimes destroy bilabial pronunciations.  The Germanic languages of the tribes who invaded Britain after the Romans left melded and continued to evolve.  Modern-day English took the step from "vater" to the more familiar "father".

Basically, my point is that within a few generations, there's a possibility we'll all be speaking "Engrish".

No matter what path English takes in linguistic evolution, the greatest assumption to make is that the rising number of foreign-language speakers on the Internet will have a huge role to play in the devaluing of English.  Us native English speakers need to take the hint and learn to face reality: it's a big world out there and our best bet of survival in the future is to recognize English for what it is- a language that is experiencing a temporary boom- and learn other languages like Spanish, German, French, and Cantonese, before we're left in the dust.

My goal is to create a widely read blog; of course, I'm willing to start small and settle for at least five hits a week. Only time will tell how this works out, but I think it'll do well as long as I'm able to consistently update. So, on with today's post.

Note: The following essay was originally posted somewhere else nearly a year ago. I'd provide the link to the original post, but that site no longer exists and the rant has since been edited.

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Abort, Captain! Abort!

It’s time for one of the greatest debatable topics in American politics and the judicial system: abortion. Should it be legal or illegal? The answer, quite simply, is that there shouldn’t even be a law regarding abortion, unless it’s with regard to ensuring that the doctors at the clinics are, in fact, professionals. Abortion is a personal choice. If you don’t like abortions, then don’t have one.

Of course, the common argument against abortion is that abortion is murder. That’s not true. Abortion is the termination of a pregnancy. Murder is the act of ending the life of another living thing. Partial-birth abortions are murder because you’re killing a living thing. However, an earlier in the termination of a pregnancy- the first trimester, for instance- is simply abortion. Some extremely religious folks insist that even “the waste of the seed” is wrong because you are ending a potential life before it begins. Well if the definition of human life went all the way back to pre-conception, then I do believe women would be up for murder charges once a month and all men would probably be in trouble at least once a day (obviously, those of high school and college age are more likely to be up for multiple offenses). This, obviously, is not the case. It’s as impractical as it is untrue. An object is not alive until it can breathe, think, and survive on its own.

So, should abortion be a no-no? Of course not. However, should abortion be used as a form of “oops” birth control? No. It all comes down to personal responsibility. If you cannot handle the responsibility of caring for a child, you shouldn’t have unprotected sex. Now I do understand that there are times when birth control fails, usually in the form of a faulty condom. That’s a different story; steps were taken to avoid a pregnancy. It’s simply ridiculous to expect everyone to abstain from sex until marriage- and even then, a child is sometimes not wanted. Telling the world’s population to keep their pants on is like telling a child not to pick its nose; it just isn’t going to work. At any rate, this is a matter for people to make their own decisions on, not the government and not some lobbyist.

Personal responsibility aside, for many women, abortion isn’t even an option; it’s a necessity! Every day, women are told that their pregnancies put them at a serious risk for stroke or worse. When something impairs your health, you find ways to remove that risk, do you not? There are other justifications for abortion, including financial status, hereditary diseases, and, my favorite, rape.

Someone once said to me, “There’s no excuse [for abortion]. Even if you’re raped, it takes two to three days before the sperm reaches the ovum. Which is enough time to seek a doctor. In fact, when you are raped, the first thing the cops do is send for an examination.”

What about the thousands of women who don't report a rape, much less go to the hospital to take care of the basics? Doing so is easier said than done. To some people, it may seem simple, logical line of thinking: a woman is raped and then she goes to the police. End of story. Unfortunately, this isn't the case. Not many women are strong enough to report a rape. First of all, many rape victims end up blaming themselves. They often think, "It's my fault this happened," or, "No, I can't let anyone know this happened." Added to this sense of humiliation is just trying to get over the shock of being raped. Rape is many women's worst nightmare; the feeling of unwilling submission, violation, and theft never go away. It is never, never as easy as pulling your clothes back on and strolling on down to your neighborhood emergency room. Don't ever presume that it is.

With that said, I know I would have an abortion if I became pregnant as the result of rape. For one, harboring a living scar of what was done to me is too painful to imagine. Some say, “Adoption is an alternative to going through with an abortion.” I say it is a choice, but it's a damn cruel one. Some women may choose to carry the baby to full term and then give it up for adoption. Fine. Let them. However, there are at least as many, if not more, who can't find it in themselves to do that. Personally, I wouldn't be able to give birth to any child of rape. I'm too damn selfish to bear more scars of rape than I would have to. I wouldn't be able to give birth to a child that has his eyes or his hair. I wouldn't be able to do so because every time I looked at that child, I wouldn't see a little boy or girl. I would see him. And I can't do that to a child, much less bear the marks of childbirth and hand my newborn off to some adoption agency.

The final point is whether abortions are done by a doctor in a clinic or some goof and his coathanger in an alley, they're going to be done. And for any guy out there who thinks this is all a simple matter of "abortion is wrong and women shouldn't have abortions", I have a special message for you. You can't share your opinion on the matter until some freakish mutation has allowed you to carry a child to term.

Okay, you may begin laughing now.

We all know the reality of this. Miss Suzie Q wakes up in the morning, skips breakfast, goes to class and/or work, then spends the evening working out and laying in a tanning bed (aka Coffin o’ Cancer). Her enthusiasim lasts only as long as the results readily show and her schedule doesn’t wear her down. Sadly, it usually does. Her hopes are crushed and she settles for a tankini top, shorts, and probably a very large straw hat. She will either sit on the beach, miserable and bored, or she will avoid the beach all together.

The reverse of this, of course, is Miss Suzie Q’s sad twin sister, Miss Suzie K. Miss Suzie K goes overboard in her beach season prep and, unlike her sister, is either lured into false confidence or really has lost an unhealthy amount of weight. Unfortunately for her, she looks terrible either way; odds are that she’s so skinny people from the homeless shelter offer to buy her a sandwich, and her bathing suit looks like it’s made of less material than a washcloth.

So where is the happy medium here? Does it exist? First of all, I think we need to look for the origin of this dilemma.

When you were an adorable little girl, did you pay much attention to your bathing suit? I’m willing to bed that so long as it was the right colors, you didn’t give a damn. You probably didn’t even care about attaining the mythical “beach body” until you reach the age where boys and girls realize that neither party actually has cooties. Now I can’t profess to knowing what men think (I doubt that men can, either), but I’m sure they find a size 0 as disturbing as a size 20. Not only that, but any man who wants a woman to scorch the earth in order to look good in a shoelace disguised as a bikini bottom doesn’t deserve a woman anyway. Trimming the hedges is one thing (and even some guys should do it or risk grossing out a majority of the non-blind female population), but honestly, what is so appealing about a woman who looks like a nine-year-old with boobs? It’s just weird.

So what have we learned? 1) The most important attribute of a bathing suit is its color(s). It always has been and always will be. 2) Freakishly skinny girls are… freaky. And they look terrible in a bikini. 3) Trim, don’t scorch.

Given what we know, this means that your average girl in an average bikini should look just fine. “Average girl”, by definition, means that there are a lot of us out there with relatively the same proportions. More of us are average than we believe, in fact. This, I’m sure, has much to do with the biggest problem of all:

We may know that we look fine, or even damn good, but knowing and feeling are two totally different things. I’ll have to use myself as an example here. I’m 5’8″, roughly 120 lbs, with a slender/athletic build. Topping it off is my ten-minutes-in-the-sun-and-I’m-tanned complexion, bright blonde hair, and bold blue eyes. Do I look good in a bathing suit? Yes. I look at myself in the mirror and know that I look good. People (with trustable opinions) say I look fantastic. However, I don’t feel as though I look good, and that’s what makes the difference. I would rather hide behind a pair of board shorts and a tank top than show off what I have.

Bottom line, whether you look good or not, if you don’t feel that you look attractive, you probably won’t. You’ll be unhappy and always wishing something about your body was different. So listen up, ladies. We need to get over this bathing suit obsession. All of us (myself included!) need to go back to the happy days when all that mattered was the color of our suits. If we can do that, summers at the beach will always be a blast.