Natural Day
High school senior Sanah Jivani was first diagnosed with Alopecia at the age of three. As a result, she lost most of her hair in different areas of her head. By seventh grade all of her hair was gone. She was devastated by this and tried to cover her hair loss by wearing a wig. But soon enough her classmates found out and she quickly became the target of schoolyard and online bullies. Someone even created a "Sanah BurnPage" on Facebook. By the start of her freshmen year, she had had enough:
"A week before my freshman year began, I ditched my wig. My hands trembled as I posted a video on Facebook telling my story. I didn't know what to expect. At first, I honestly thought the world might end. I honestly thought my friends would stop being my friends and my relatives would be so ashamed that they wouldn't want to associate with me. I honestly thought what I was doing was dumb, but I did it anyway. I did it because I couldn't handle hiding who I was for a second longer. I did it because I wanted to share my story, even if my voice was shaking. I did it for me, and no one else. The moment I clicked 'post,' I was set free. Tears filled my eyes and panic filled my hearts moments afterwards, but I didn't regret it one bit. I knew that this was the first step to loving myself completely. I knew that this fifteen seconds of insane courage would change everything. Most importantly, I knew I no longer was going to hide, and a huge burden was suddenly lifted off my chest."
Sanah took this experience even farther by partnering with her best friend to start "Natural Day" at her school. They intentionally chose February 13th (the day before Valentines Day) to highlight the important of being able to "love yourself before you can love others." "Everybody has a 'wig' whether it is their hair, make-up, or something deeper than physical, such as a past story that haunts them. Natural Day is about letting go of all of that. It's about being free, and learning to love yourself the way I learned to love myself. And that's exactly what I wanted for the students of my high school." Today Natural Day is celebrated in schools all around the world!
After a dance recital I was in, this girl who also danced that day instant messaged me on AIM. I don't know how she got my screen name because I had never given it to her. The words she typed into that chat box still echo in my head, two years later. She called me a "frizzy haired freak," "fat," "ugly," and a number of other things. I blocked her but then she either made another screen name or had one already and IMed me yet again saying even worst things. I only told one close friend of mine what had happened. I responded back in the conversation a couple of times saying "Why are you doing this?" and after a couple things she had said I responded "You're not perfect, so why are you pointing out my imperfections?" and at the end of the conversation I said "Thank you very much for putting my down so much that I can't stop crying." Now I had not been one to even think about self-injury but it's what I resorted in for the last couple weeks of school and for the past couple of years. Bullying online is the worst because if you have your AIM settings set to log the chats, then if you accidentally click the conversation, it will pop up for you to see it. Now I have not read the conversation since that day, but the words are just haunting. Even now when I see her, I drop my head down to my chest and stop talking and walk away. It's the worst feeling to feel inferior to a fellow student, but that's what has happened to me.
15 year-old girl from MA