New T-shirt design inspired by Oprah
                                      Jay LaRico

Oprah Winfrey told Naomi Judd that her life changed for the better once she came to the realization that she deserved.

"When you're really inside yourself -- you don't need a book, you don't need a psalm, you don't need a song, but you know that you are worthy because you were born," Oprah told Naomi, who was on her show discussing her struggle with weight issues. "The moment you get to the point where you really do feel worthy and, 'I deserve it, I deserve all the happiness and abundance that God is willing to give me,' it will be over."

What Oprah said is true, not only for her, but for all of us.

That Oprah show inspired the teen self-esteem building nonprofit organization, Hey U G L Y, to create a survey to get people in touch with their inner deservedness.

"We enlisted the help of CB Teen Magazine to ask people across America to finish the sentence, 'I deserve . . .'", said Betty Hoeffner, president and co-founder of Hey U G L Y "The answers came in myriad of responses ranging from, 'I deserve nothing because I think I have to earn it,' to, happiness, love, respect and 'a boyfriend who will love me as I am.' We took the top responses and put them on a T-shirt to remind everyone that we all really do DESERVE."

The top answers that made it onto the tee are: Happiness, love, respect, peace, friends, health, freedom, acceptance, equality, fun, joy, prosperity, honesty, fulfillment, understanding, balance, contentment, serenity, success, support, appreciation, harmony, tranquility, miracles, more than I can possibly imagine. Hey U G L Y added: to feel, to grow, to live, to be, to dream, to search.

The shirt, available at heyugly.org, is $16.50. Proceeds benefit Hey U G L Y's mission to empower teens with self-esteem building tools to help them counter bullying, eating disorders, violence, substance abuse and suicide. U G L Y is an acronym that stands for: Unique Gifted Lovable You.


Jay LaRico is a freelance writer who focuses on articles regarding education, sports and community development. He is currently working on a book about his three year stint as full-time caregiver to his mother called: The Choice Of Angels – An Alzheimer's caregiver shares his thoughts.