A Simple Smile
If there was one symbol that could mean “friend” through out the entire planet, it would be a smile. A simple smile can brighten up a person’s day whether you are the person being smiled at, or the person smiling. A person smiling is a very powerful thing especially when done with confidence. For the past six years or so (To be perfectly honest, I have lost count) I have endured the childish institution of braces. Unfortunately for me though, this adolescent tradition has worked become a part of the man that I am developing into today. Without saying, I am very conscious about my braces, which is the reason that I wanted to talk about them. I am always worried that when I meet a new person the first thing that they notice about me is that I have braces. Time and time again I have been told by a variety of people that “you can barely notice them,” or “you worry about them way to much.” That’s easy for others to say and to some extent I believe it to be true, but people do notice them and I can’t wait to be rid of these platinum burdens.
I would like to start by explaining my own personal psyche about my braces. I started my orthodontic treatment on December 6th, 2000. I was a sophomore in high school and at that point around half of my friends had braces as well or had just gotten them off. So it was way more common for my peers to have the same type of dilemmas as me, which made dealing with braces easier and made me much less conscious about them. Who knew that six years later I would still be in braces and writing a paper about how they have affected me while experiencing high school and college?
On a day to day basis I rarely notice them, just because of the duration of time that I have had them on for. I go through my day thinking that my teeth are no different from anyone else’s, but unfortunately they are not. These tawdry pieces of metal that call my mouth “home,” are not always so subtle. For example, when eating certain foods my “braces awareness” as I like to call it, becomes extremely heightened. Foods like pizza, a hamburger with onions, and peanuts all can cause major complications when talking with people out in public. Of course functionally I am still able to talk after eating these items, but as far a being confident in how my mouth looks, let’s just say that I am less than happy to smile. Always having to worry that a huge chunk of food is right in the middle of your teeth is rather stressful, especially when talking to a little cutie. Maybe I am a shallow person, which could very well be the case, but regardless these are some of the things that I think about throughout my day.
I have always wondered how the outside world perceives my braces and I. As I stated earlier many people have expressed to me that they are not a noticeable as I think, but I still am very skeptical about their comforting comments. Each person that has told me that “they aren’t even that noticeable,” has been a person that is relatively close to me. People who are close to me like my mother, a girlfriend, or even close friends are around me enough that they have become callused to the appearance of my braces and are able to look past them much more easily. I have always wondered if I would get the same response from a person who I had just met. I have wondered if they would tell me that they did notice them or would they say that they didn’t notice them even though they did, just to be polite. Polite? I’m not sure why I used the word polite, it must be because I view my braces as being something negative. Just as some one wouldn’t say “hey, I noticed that you were carrying some extra weight around the midsection,” should people not comment on my braces because it is not socially acceptable to? I feel as if people sub-consciously view my braces as being a type of flaw and therefore always redundantly say “you have braces? You can barely notice them.”
Over the years my thoughts about my braces have changed about as slowly as the progress with my teeth. When I started in braces I was a young teen just starting to develop into a man. Now, six years later and about to graduate college I look back at all the experiences that I have encountered during the time and each experience I have had while in braces. It makes me wonder if things would be different if I had gone through college without the distraction of having braces. Throughout this paper I have talked about braces as a flaw with negative connotations to them. Braces are a flaw, but they are my flaw and I am happy with where they have gotten me in life.
If there was one symbol that could mean “friend” through out the entire planet, it would be a smile. A simple smile can brighten up a person’s day whether you are the person being smiled at, or the person smiling. A person smiling is a very powerful thing especially when done with confidence. For the past six years or so (To be perfectly honest, I have lost count) I have endured the childish institution of braces. Unfortunately for me though, this adolescent tradition has worked become a part of the man that I am developing into today. Without saying, I am very conscious about my braces, which is the reason that I wanted to talk about them. I am always worried that when I meet a new person the first thing that they notice about me is that I have braces. Time and time again I have been told by a variety of people that “you can barely notice them,” or “you worry about them way to much.” That’s easy for others to say and to some extent I believe it to be true, but people do notice them and I can’t wait to be rid of these platinum burdens.
I would like to start by explaining my own personal psyche about my braces. I started my orthodontic treatment on December 6th, 2000. I was a sophomore in high school and at that point around half of my friends had braces as well or had just gotten them off. So it was way more common for my peers to have the same type of dilemmas as me, which made dealing with braces easier and made me much less conscious about them. Who knew that six years later I would still be in braces and writing a paper about how they have affected me while experiencing high school and college?
On a day to day basis I rarely notice them, just because of the duration of time that I have had them on for. I go through my day thinking that my teeth are no different from anyone else’s, but unfortunately they are not. These tawdry pieces of metal that call my mouth “home,” are not always so subtle. For example, when eating certain foods my “braces awareness” as I like to call it, becomes extremely heightened. Foods like pizza, a hamburger with onions, and peanuts all can cause major complications when talking with people out in public. Of course functionally I am still able to talk after eating these items, but as far a being confident in how my mouth looks, let’s just say that I am less than happy to smile. Always having to worry that a huge chunk of food is right in the middle of your teeth is rather stressful, especially when talking to a little cutie. Maybe I am a shallow person, which could very well be the case, but regardless these are some of the things that I think about throughout my day.
I have always wondered how the outside world perceives my braces and I. As I stated earlier many people have expressed to me that they are not a noticeable as I think, but I still am very skeptical about their comforting comments. Each person that has told me that “they aren’t even that noticeable,” has been a person that is relatively close to me. People who are close to me like my mother, a girlfriend, or even close friends are around me enough that they have become callused to the appearance of my braces and are able to look past them much more easily. I have always wondered if I would get the same response from a person who I had just met. I have wondered if they would tell me that they did notice them or would they say that they didn’t notice them even though they did, just to be polite. Polite? I’m not sure why I used the word polite, it must be because I view my braces as being something negative. Just as some one wouldn’t say “hey, I noticed that you were carrying some extra weight around the midsection,” should people not comment on my braces because it is not socially acceptable to? I feel as if people sub-consciously view my braces as being a type of flaw and therefore always redundantly say “you have braces? You can barely notice them.”
Over the years my thoughts about my braces have changed about as slowly as the progress with my teeth. When I started in braces I was a young teen just starting to develop into a man. Now, six years later and about to graduate college I look back at all the experiences that I have encountered during the time and each experience I have had while in braces. It makes me wonder if things would be different if I had gone through college without the distraction of having braces. Throughout this paper I have talked about braces as a flaw with negative connotations to them. Braces are a flaw, but they are my flaw and I am happy with where they have gotten me in life.
1 comment:
First I loved how you called them "platinum burdens" and your explaination of the awareness that you experience with certain types of foods. It was corn on the cob for me.
What I would have liked to have seen you do a little bit more is talk about how you think you have developed other parts of your personality. Do you feel that you compensate for your braces by being more outgoing and funny? For me growing up I was always a giant, but developing my natural athletic abilities made the difference in height between my classmates and I seem negligable. Now I'm just averagge height, but very confident with my body. I would like for you to discuss more about how you've learned to "own" your "flaw."
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