To Pierce Or Not To Pierce
By Lana Moline
It is customary in many cultures to have a girl’s ears pierced as a baby. In fact, my ears were pierced when I was young but for many years early on, I would either forget to put my earrings on or loose them. At one point, my hole closed and I just didn’t worry about it. But somewhere around the age of 16 my big sister and I went together to get our ears pierced. I’m not sure why, but that was the beginning of many decisions of fashion and beauty and it felt pretty good to make this one for myself. It wasn’t a deep decision. I just thought it would look nice because everyone around me looked so nice with theirs. Now that I am a mother of 2 beautiful daughters, my views on it all are ever evolving because honestly when I look at them I think to myself “they are beautiful just the way they are., I hope they know that.”
I chose not to have either of my daughter’s ears pierced. Yes I wear earrings and have explained to my daughters that when they are older, they can make the decision for themselves. I am not knocking anyone’s decision to go in that direction with their daughter. I just want to make sure that I am clear in what I communicate to my daughters in these very formidable years. The message that I want to send is that the choice is yours, down the line. Right now my focus is positive self-esteem, confidence and a commitment to continued growth. They are already so inundated with messages about everything from popularity to being cool and enormous peer pressure. I just didn’t want to fuel that by giving them one more unnecessary decision to make every day.
I know this may seem a little contradictory to some considering the fact that I wear earrings but my heart’s intent is pure. Believe me, the time I spend in the morning trying to match my outfits and coordinate earrings yet remain understated and professional could be best spent doing something else. So trust me, I am considering my own words. Truth be told, I still believe that less is more and allowing our natural beauty to shine through without hiding it behind anything is proudly displaying the belief that “I am fearfully and wonderfully made” because I was made in the image of God.
As women we go through so many changes and challenges with self perceptions and body image. I just want to give my girls a chance the best way I know how and not impose something on to them that they may or may not subscribe to in their lives. My desire is that when they look in the mirror, they will see what I see – an intelligent, confident young lady with a purpose who is absolutely beautiful.
Lana Moline is an integral part of the Blackloveandmarriage.com writing team, freelance writer and poet who lives in Ft. Worth with her three kids and husband Emile. Married 11 years, both media professionals have vowed to maintain integrity in all aspects of print and broadcast journalism.Visit her atLana Moline Speaks.
I respect your decision Lana. I think we miss the value of "keeping it simple".