"Halves are always prettier"

A couple weeks ago I was out with my good friends. We were all at a pub, chatting and enjoying the evening. Not surprisingly (based on my interests), they happened to be all exchange students.

Amidst multiple conversations, one of my friends (who shall remain anonymous) asked me,

"Are you half?"

**Note. Half: refers to 'half of an ethnicity' ie. Half Chinese and half something else, half Irish and half British.

I reply with, "Half as in, half Chinese? I'm not really sure."

My friend asking me that question was unaware that I was adopted and had no information on my true ethnic background.

They replied with, "You must be half. I find halves are always prettier".

Translation: "I think people who are half Asian are prettier than people who are 'Full' or Full Asian (their ethnicity is 100% one Asian ethnicity)".

I responded with a surprised, "Oh! I don't think so. Uh, thanks, I'm not really sure if that's a backhanded compliment or..." and casually laughed it off as the conversation topic changed.

When I was able to step out of the situation and assess it more carefully afterwards, I was quite intrigued with what my friend had said. What went through my mind was the fact that many of my Asian friends and celebrities who were 'Full Asians', who my friend thought were less attractive, were -in my mind- beautiful. I also thought of people who were considered 'Half Asians' and concluded that they were equally as beautiful. There was no group that had more physically-beautiful people in it, it was just a mix of different people with different physiques. I think that includes everyone no matter who you are or where you come from. There isn't a race or ethnicity that is deemed as 'more beautiful' than others (although, everyone perceives beauty diffrently), but ultimately, everyone is beautiful, but just in their own way.

I don't think it's fair to compare one race against each other. While everyone has their own biases and opinions, what really matters is who a person is internally, not externally. I think if people begin to think that way more, there would be less judgement, prejudice, racism, bullying and hate in the world... Which we obviously don't need more of.

Thank you for reading my post and I encourage you to seek the internal beauty in everyone! Thank you to Victoria who drew this depiction of a "Full Asian" comparing herself to the "Half Asian". Look closely to the background words.