June Blogging Challenge Day 9

What gift are you grateful to have received?

This is not a gift in the sense of something you can hold. It is a gift of the soul as it's been said.

I was raised to accept my body for being natural, and to not look down on others for how they look. My father, brother and I were "at home nudists", that is to say, we were often nude around the house in the evenings. We would watch a movie at night on the TV in the buff.

This taught me to see myself as natural and normal. I also was taught to look at others in the same way. I was told we are all different and no one is more worthy of self respect than anyone else.

This was the gift of not giving a shit what others think of how I look, or who they think I am as a person. As dad put it, "Their opinion of you is their problem, not yours." Well in practice the opinion of others can keep you from getting a job and so on, but as for self respect, it is not at all important. They don't like you, they can just go be around someone else. If they want to stay focused on you and not move on with their life, they are mentally ill and should get some help - at no point is who I am or how I look going to chance the fact I love who I am and how I look.

I've been to many venues where social nudity was the norm, and I have to say, not once did I think of anyone as other than a valid human who should be respected as an individual. It's their actions that should be the measure of respect, not their looks, social status, job title, and so on.

That is the gift I am the most grateful for to say the least.