“Birthmarks” by Josephine F. is an amazing short memoir that has an incredible theme. In this story, Josephine talks about her unique birthmark - black dots on her lips/inside her mouth. She explains that she was constantly made fun of because of these birthmarks because as she said, society has a problem with accepting people for who they are. Josephine also describes the experience of the procedure of removing the polyps. Then, Josephine self-reflects and says that she’s proud of who she is and she doesn’t try to hide her imperfections.

This memoir really inspired me, and I think everyone needs to read this piece. This beautiful story is about a young girl coming to the realization that it’s okay to have imperfections and that no one is perfect. I, myself, have a few insecurities and this piece helped me realize it’s ok and I have to learn to accept my differences. As Josephine says in her memoir, “I am finally accepting who I am and now I won’t tolerate people making fun of me. I am no longer insecure about my birthmarks and I don’t try to hide them when someone pulls out a camera. I don’t hesitate when someone asks me about them either. I say, ‘They’re beauty marks’ and smile without pursing in my lips.” This quote really impacted me the most telling me that everyone is beautiful in their own way, and we shouldn’t let our birthmarks stop us from being ourselves, and it certainly shouldn’t be the reason that people bully you; after all, they are beauty marks.