“I like how mine’s a little off-center; it’s got wabi-sabi.”
In a clip resurfacing across TikTok, a cartoon little boy stares at a crooked rose and from this, teens are starting to see themselves online. Social media is known for destroying the confidence of young minds, but for many teens, this scene offered a rare moment of validation.
Wabi-sabi, or 侘寂, is a 15th-century Japanese philosophy that finds beauty in imperfection and incompleteness. The phrase combines wabi, 侘, meaning simple, rustic and modest living, with sabi, 寂, which refers to the beauty of age and the natural fading of things.
The term resurfaced when an emotional TikTok clip that showcased a scene from the popular 2000s TV show King of the Hill began to gain new attention online. In the clip, 13-year-old Bobby Hill mentions how his rose choice was off-center and has “wabi-sabi” even though he was tasked with selecting a perfect rose. He was meant to follow a strict rulebook to enter the best rose into a competition, but to him, the rose that he loved had small irregularities, bent petals and a slightly slanted stem, and that’s what made it beautiful.
A phrase that used to be related to objects and nature is now being applied to bodies, personalities and mental health. Bobby’s words are sitting with thousands of teenagers and adults around the world as they realize that their flaws are what makes them human. People posted videos of themselves with “#wabi-sabi” written across the screen as they showcased certain physical characteristics that they once believed should not be shown. The audio of a soft piano played quietly underneath Bobby’s voice and the comments flooded with, “aw i love this”, and “this is my favorite trend.”
In today’s society, social media constantly pushes the idea of perfection. Users are shown sharp button noses, defined jawlines, no abrasions on your skin, and a waist so thin that one meal would cause bloat. That constant stream of perfectly curated posts has made nearly everyone self-conscious , especially young minds.
Adolescent minds are the most susceptible to the perfection disease as they begin to learn social cues and their own identity. In a study conducted in the United Kingdom in 2017, 35% of 13-19-year-olds say that their body image causes them to ‘often’ or ‘always’ worry. This simple monologue about a rose helped people realize that being imperfect is what makes us human. We all have individual flaws or characteristics that separate us from one another.
“I realized my hair didn’t need to always be perfectly straight or perfectly waved,” said junior Paige Sorrentino. “Frizz is okay and is a natural aspect of hair.” She’s not the only one though who agrees that the wabi-sabi trend helped embrace flaws that they forgot were normal. During the interviews, the clip was shown to the students and there was an audible gasp with their faces lighting up as they realized there was finally a trend to make them feel good.
“I realized freckles aren’t a weakness, but rather a distinction that makes me unique,” said senior Annelysa Mannarino.
“Humans have this innate want to find patterns,” AP math teacher Frank Krar said. We are really bad at just letting things be random. We do not always need to search for conformity, though. Not every data set is going to be perfectly linear, just like not every human is going to have perfect features – and this trend helped people realize that.
It’s also a bit comical that the thing that boosted the masses into accepting themselves was, yet again, a viral post. On social media platforms, especially TikTok, trends seem to control it all – from the clothes of the month to a new phrase or “stim” people repeat. Social media fueled this insecurity, pushing users to edit themselves into flawless representations of themselves. But for now, being just you is perfect enough. People are reclaiming platforms to spread positive self-appreciation, not perfect aesthetics, and many find it incredibly beautiful.
Users have been craving that sense of authenticity, that feeling that their favorite content creator has something real and attainable. For example, when model and social media personality Alex Consani makes relatable references or cracks a joke that feels genuine, it makes her personable. Students mention how people crave that bit of personality that TikTokers often lack in an attempt to be perfect – but now? You don’t need to be perfect.
Nevertheless, some people may argue that social media will always turn trends into the next aesthetic – even if the aesthetic is imperfection – leading to commercialization. For example, some companies may sell dented cans or cracked glassware in an attempt to be “wabi-sabi”. While there have not yet been clear examples of this, critics argue commercialization is always possible. While that may be true, the positives of self-appreciation outweigh the negatives. Though this trend may fade, the philosophy has been around for as long as ancient Japan.
Just as we learn about imperfections in our environment in science class, it’s important to remember that we are part of that environment too.
