Three things: 1. I was literally thinking of this photo yesterday and wishing I could look at it. Wow. 2. Hello red lips and nails! This was 9th grade. (I’m the bottom row on the left in red). 3. The school voted and I had won the holiday queen crown but declined it because there were some mean girls trying to bully me and said if i accepted it they would play a prank on me. Why did i win in the first place? Because I was kind and friends with anyone kind. Why did i decline it? At the time it was more important for me to keep the peace than accept my crown.
Some lessons: 1. This is one of those experiences where i shined too bright and i allowed someone to prevent me from claiming my crown. I’m not doing that anymore. 2. I still to this day have compassion for those girls. They were mean to many people and that makes me sad for them and for the people they tortured. It sucked all the way around. 3. This experience made me double down on my mission to show the world that REAL sisterhood is possible. I never played the part of the mean girl. I never let my popularity drive me to be mean. I could have retaliated against my bullies. I had a lot of support. The teachers even wanted me to....but i had other things to do...like be friends with the “loners” and the girls that were “bossy” and “sluts” and “too loud” and “too shy”. I was spending time managing my friendships and letting karma take care of the mean girls.
