Scrolling through Twitter, I came across Alexandra Elle’s (@_alexelle) video of a young girl reading Post-Its stuck to her mirror. As a self-love exercise after being bullied on the bus, her mother had her read aloud, “I am beautiful and black. I am smart. I am funny. I am vibrant. I am kind. I am honest. I am helpful. I am graceful. I am nice. I am proud to be brown. I am magical, unbreakable and confident.”

Like the girl in the video, young boys and girls are taught to live up to societal norms—you have to be as thin or as muscular as the unrealistic, photoshopped men and women on the magazines or you are called “fat” or “ugly”. You are mocked for being “weird” if you are from a different cultural background or if you dress a certain way.  Some are hated for being homosexual. Sadly, others are victims of racism. The list is neverending.  

Instead of teaching children to conform to society’s expectations and molding them to be materialistic adults always worried about how our hair looks or how much makeup we need to mask ourselves, we must teach them self-love and positivity. Everyone is entitled to love who they are—All races, genders, cultures, the gay and transgender communities—and to be proud of themselves as a unique individual. After all, there is only one of you.

Step-by-step, the world is on it’s way to equality, promoting self-love and diversity. On June 26, 2015, the United States Supreme Court legalized gay marriage nationwide, and just 96 years ago, women did not have the right to vote in the U.S.

Although our generation is more widely accepting of diversity, it still has a long way to go. Today, according to DoSomething.org, a whopping 3.2 million students are victims of bullying. Everyday, people are hated for being “different”. Uniqueness and diversity is something that society should love and cherish—it is what makes us human.

A world where people can be themselves without being mocked by their peers, sometimes even their friends and family, sounds near perfect. By teaching children to be comfortable in their own skin, we are teaching them good morality and an important life lesson—no matter our race, gender, ethnicity, culture, and sexual identity, everyone is entitled to truly, genuinely and entirely  love themselves.