"I'm not going to cover anything up. This is me." (P. 121)

If you're walking on your own - whether it's through the streets, or in a mall, or in an airport - you're always seeing new people. But you're not just looking at them, you're judging them. It's second-nature. When you see someone who catches your eye (not exclusively because you find them appealing, just because you find them interesting), the first you do is try to figure them out: What's their story or what they're like. Then you begin either criticizing or praising them in your head. This maybe even happens more when you're accompanied. Your one of you sees somebody interesting and immediately turns to the other to say something good about them or something terrible. We're used to doing this, many people see nothing wrong with it. But it's terrible when you're on the other end. When you're the one beng criticized and you know it. And this is exactly what happens to Brent Runyon in The Burn Journals.

Brent attempted suicide, and was left with burns all over his body. Then one day a woman from a cosmetic company approaches Brent to try to persuade him to purchase make-up to make him look good. She is immediately judging him and automatically assuming that he must find himself ugly and be very self-conscious. It's infuriating, because she is, in a way, trying to convince him that he's ugly, and says these cosmetics will definitely make him happier, healthier and less self-conscious. But he rejects it and embraces who he became.

However, finally, after three months of being in the hospital 24/7, he finally went out to have ice cream and go to the movies. But it was definitely an awful experience for him. He had to wear baggy clothes because of all the damaged skin, but as he left the hospital he saw nothing wrong with it. They were just comfortable clothes that made him feel good.

However, once he gets to Ben and Jerry's, people immediately begin whispering about him. "People are looking at me and trying to figure out what happened to me and why I'm so burned up (P. 126)," he writes. "They're whispering too. What are they saying? I can't hear them but they're definitely talking about me... and why I'm wearing these clothes (P. 127)," he adds afterwards. And this feeling of being judged by everybody in this store is what breaks him. Before going in, he hadn't thought about how odd he looked, but now all he can think about is how "stupid" he is. "I shouldn't have worn these clothes, I just realized that they look really stupid, and I shouldn't be wearing a Lakers hat because nobody around here likes the Lakers anyway,"he says. "God, I'm an idiot. A stupid burned-up idiot with purple face and a bunch of bandages under his clothes. I hate myself (P. 127)."And so, the unsubtle and rude way in which people judge him, makes him incredibly self-conscious. Even though before, he was able to stand-up to a woman who was basically calling him ugly, all he can do now is dislike everything about himself. Before it was the woman trying to bring him down, but now he's doing it on his own.