Faith and Mission

As part of the Year 10 Pastoral Program, the students experienced a powerful presentation about self love and acceptance. Jesus reminded us in Mark 12:31 ‘You shall love your neighbour as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than this. One way of interpreting this significant message, is through accepting and loving who we are as we are all made in the image and likeness of God.

Body Image. It refers to a person's perception of their physical appearance and their thoughts, feelings, and behaviours, whether good, harmful or both.

In Term 2, the Year 10 cohort had the privilege of listening to a guest speaker, Ms Kelly Nash whose powerful words struck deep within us and truly impacted me, as a teenage girl in today's day-in-age. Kelly Nash began her session disguised as Mrs Evelyn Summers. Little did we know that by putting on a costume, singing on stage, making us laugh, and honestly embracing her "differentness" would inspired us all. She talked about feeling comfortable in our own bodies, and how EVERY body is beautiful in its own, unique and weird way. She continued to talk about beauty, and how businesses deceive true beauty. She went on to challenge us to re-think the overlooked and popular meaning of beauty. She taught us how to love our bodies, in a world full of photoshopped, fake and unrealistic bodies, especially on social media platforms. Her presence on stage brought smiles on our faces, and warmth within our hearts. 

Her powerful words had struck me, and mentally I had formed that bond with her personality and confidence. Yet, tears filled in my eyes, as we all came to realise that it was all pretend. The bubbly, and loveable person dancing around on stage bringing joy, was a character, a way to show us closed minded people that someone can truly love themselves. Her teachings and words beautifully orchestrated into my own restricted mind. Tears in my eyes, and having the feeling as if someone so near to me had left, I pondered on her words. 

I learnt that we have good body days, and bad body days, and to never beat yourself up about the bad days. The word ‘fat,’ a confronting word to all, brought out the vulnerable side to Mrs Evelyn Summers. We saw how hard it was for her to even say the word, that she broke out into song. Repeated over and over, you start to see the word “Fat” doesn’t truly have a real meaning unless you make it mean something to you. Personally, I had also struggled with body image, and always had the thought that everyone would think I was fat, ugly, or different. But after listening to her inspiring talk, I changed the most confronting word for me, ‘fat’, and made it mean “Flawlessly, Admirable Treasure”, a phrase flipped to mean something beautiful. 

To all who are reading this, I hope this brings impact into your life, as our guest speaker Ms Kelly Nash did for me.

 Always remember: beauty is a one size fits all. 

(“We don’t all come in the same package, there are many different shapes and sizes that are healthy and it’s time to start celebrating and embracing diversity. “)

Mercy Leota - Seiuli Seufatu 

10 Miriam