Personal Narrative: A Change In My Jewish Life

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On the surface, I was an excited teenager standing on the bimah, ready for the next stage in my Jewish life. Inside were complex emotions still difficult to pinpoint. Putting on a yarmulke is a traditional symbol of Judaism, but at my Bar Mitzvah, it served another role -it helped me hide something I didn’t quite know how to handle.

Going into middle school, a change in hairstyle is exactly what some people need. That being said, mine was neither needed nor wanted. At first my gray hairs weren’t very noticeable, and I expected them to go away. But when they kept coming, I began to worry about what my future would hold. Would I go to high school with noticeably gray hair? Would I become an outcast because of the color of my hair? These concerns may sound extreme, but for a nervous middle schooler they were overwhelming. Questions flooded my head as I contemplated what to do. I asked my doctor for advice and did research online for any type of home remedy or solution. After research revealed there was nothing I could do about my hereditary condition, I retreated to what made me comfortable again: watching Spongebob and plucking out gray hairs without missing too much of the episode. …show more content…
However, with each and every day I was less self-conscious. My parents played a huge role in my acceptance of gray hair; they taught me to focus on my positive characteristics. I was a funny, athletic, smart kid, and having a few gray hairs could not take any of that away from me. They showed me pictures of handsome, successful men I now had a reason to admire. If gray hair did not hold back the journalist Anderson Cooper, whose job depends on physical appeal, from reaching his dreams, then why should I let it hold me back? My hair has not defined my transition to adulthood, but, instead,
sparked

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