Previous Challenge Entry (Level 1 – Beginner)
Topic: Beautiful (11/07/05)
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TITLE: Extraordinarily Average | Previous Challenge Entry
By Brooke Turner
11/13/05 -
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At age 24, I decided that a move to China was in order. This was something that I never previously saw coming, and for reasons that I don’t have time to go into now, my future life in the Far East was decided, and I was locked into a university in the old Sichuan province of western China. Little did I know, my days of average were over.
Now, this wasn’t the typical “McDonald’s on every corner and Starbucks anytime you want” Chinese city. We were in the innards of China (and eating innards as well, but that’s another story). Getting back to my leave of normalcy, living in this isolated city transformed me into anything but average. I became an overnight sensation. Without a curl straightened or a stroke of mascara added, I was made over. Every where I went, I was literally parting the sea of people. Eyes widened, eyebrows scrunched, mouths gaped as I made my way down the streets of this newfound Hollywood. “Wai-guo-ren,” people would whisper as they nudged friends with eager elbows. I soon got used to the word that means “foreigner” in both my language and theirs and began to revel in the attention that it brought. Men were enchanted, women amazed, children delighted at the exotic, new look I brought with me. A look that for the previous 24 years of my life got me a smile every now and then and a few praises when done up, but nothing like this. I mean, I was IT.
But by now, you have to be wondering how this rags to riches story ends. Honestly now, no one can stay climaxed as a cinder-sweeper turned princess overnight for too long. And, alas, my tale too quickly began to roll downhill. Months passed and my infatuation with the notice that beauty brings began to fade away. There’s only so long any one person can handle being the center of attention, especially any one person who prior to that time has never known anything but playing the part of an extra. I began to grow weary under the burden of excessive praise. What I desired for more than anything was to blend in. I wanted people to not notice me anymore, to pass by without a comment. I wanted my ordinary identity back. I was tired of being the focal point.
I quickly realized that beauty truly was in the eye of the beholder, and I just wanted some eyes that were used to beholding this type of beauty: The beauty of being able to go into a grocery store, pick out your canned goods and fresh fruits without making the front page. The beauty of having a cup of coffee with a friend and not hearing whispers waft in from tables nearby or trying to avoid the stares of shocked strangers. The beauty of having people I’ve just met forget my name because I didn’t stand out too much. The beauty of being passed over for my outward shell and being pursued in friendship because of a draw to the deeper me. I miss that beauty. I miss it now as I am still here in China. At times, I can’t wait for the day to return home, to find that I look pretty similar to everyone else, not too tall, not too short, not too outstanding, but extraordinarily average in my own unique way.
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