Blog Entry #2

          Since my novel, The Monkeyface Chronicles is about a boy who is discriminated and hated on due to his physical appearance, I wanted to talk to you guys about what cleft lip and palate actually is and how he feels about it.
          Cleft lip and palate is a facial deformity that occurs to babies before they are born, typically during the first trimester of pregnancy. It occurs in 1 out of 700 babies in the world and is the most common birth defect in the United States. It is when you have a missing piece of skin above your lip and a hole in your palate. Moreover, a baby can have other birth defects alongside cleft lip and palate, but it is not for certain. Babies can have only a cleft lip, cleft palate or both. Nobody really knows how a child can becomes cleft lip and palate, but they are becoming close to finding out as technology is improving throughout the years. Infants born with cleft lip and palate have all kinds of surgeries during infancy and receive speech therapy during childhood. At the end of the day, they live normal lives.
           The protagonist in the novel, Philip is born both cleft lip and palate and is very ashamed of his appearance. He wants to quickly grow old and have plastic surgery to change his appearance. He always thinks why he had to be born that way and how his "perfect" twin was not born cleft lip as well. I believe that Philip should not think that way and be proud of who he is and how he is. We only get to live on this planet once, we should be grateful no matter how we are and love the way we are.
           This is not only his fault, he is bullied, beat up and left out of many things. Society should be accepting and not put individuals down, we are all humans. It is not only his fellow colleagues, his teachers treat him differently as well. They put him in the worst class even though he is one of the smartest kids in the school. Furthermore, people walking on the streets stare at Philip and give him dirty stares which makes him feel even more ashamed of himself.
          He should always be proud of who is is and ignore the mean people in his town. He should not care what others do and he should do whatever he feels right. Also, he should not talk to negative people who put him down and find people who appreciate and love him for who he is.
          I do not believe cleft lip and palate is such a bad thing. I lived with it my whole life and never thought of it as bad as it is portrayed in the novel. People sometimes look at me funny, but I look the other way and walk away. There will always be people who make fun of you and treat you differently just because you look different, but you should not let it get to you. I am proud of who I am and I would never trade my life for another.
         It hurts me that Philip feels that bad about himself. He should love himself for the way he was born and not think about why he was born that way, and why couldn't be what society calls "normal".
        In conclusion, you should treat people the way you would want to be treated and not discriminate because of their physical features. You should always be proud of who you are and not let negative people stop you from doing things in life. Sometimes you just have to look the other way and walk away.