In her column “Wear Sunscreen,” Mary Schmidt said: “You will not understand the power and beauty of your youth until they have faded.” This quote advises us to be confident. Some people say cruel things like, “You’re as fat as a trillion hogs” in an attempt to make you believe that about yourself. However, the Future You will look back at the Teen You, and you will realize that you were not as “bad” as you thought you were or as others convinced you that you were.

Ms. Schmidt’s quote is important because people are going to say bad things about you to make themselves feel better, but you need to choose to not believe it and definitely not repeat it inside your head. We should be proud of who we are. This is a valuable life lesson because it can help teens going through depression over being body shamed at school or at home. Teens can take this advice and move past their fears. Not everybody is perfect, and we are not all the same.