Monday, February 25, 2013



Addison and her beautiful long hair.
Written by: Rebecca Holsapple

It was a beautiful autumn day; Addison was looking out the window to the beautiful sunshine and all the leaves changing colors. It was the first day of the third week of school. She was excited about going more then she had been in quite some time, because today was a special day.

Addison was going to go in front of the whole school along with the other members of the school council. Just last Friday, she had been chosen as president of the 5th grade. Her friends thought that her leadership skills and her strong sense of moral and ethics would make her the best candidate. They all encouraged her to campaign, after a bit of convincing, she accepted. 

She had made posters and given a couple of speeches to all the 5th grade classes. To her surprise, even though she was not the most popular student at the school, especially since she was Christian and often got teased about it; she had won!

Two other 5th graders had applied for the job, Joe Carter and Mary Stevens.  Joe had been nice about her winning; he had come and shook her hand, congratulated her and wished her good luck. Mary, on the other hand had been quite upset, she refused to even speak to Addison and said mean things loudly to a big group of girls about her outfit the day of the election. Addison had pretended not to hear, but it had hurt her feelings.

 When she told her mom about it later that night her mom told her that jealousy can make people act badly. Addison really hoped Mary had cooled down over the weekend, and they could get along again.

Addison picked out her outfit carefully; she wanted to look nice to be in front of the whole school. She picked her favorite jean skirt and a beautiful teal sweater her mom had bought her just last week. She usually put her hair up for school, her mom wanted to make sure it wouldn’t get tangled while she played outside at recess or in PE class, but she thought today would be a good day to keep her hair down. She brushed her long brown hair nicely, pulled the front back and put a flower in it.

Addison ran downstairs to eat breakfast and her parents prayed with her that everything would go smoothly and that Mary would be nice to her, and that if she wasn’t Addison would have a good attitude and that God would give her the right words to deal with it. Addison felt much better after the prayer; God was with her, who could be against her?

She put on her jacket, grabbed her book bag, said good bye to her mom and dad. Her younger sister Renee followed her to the bus stop. 

When she got on the bus, she spotted her good friend Annie who was waving for her to sit with her. Something was odd though, she could tell people were whispering about her. She wondered if it was because of the council presentation. She pretended not to notice and went to sit by Annie.  They had been friend since third grade when Addison had started going to this school. Annie was not a Christian but she loved Addison’s faith and always wanted to learn more about it.

“Addison, you look beautiful with you hair down! I always forget just how long it is!! I wish mine was like that!” said Annie with a big smile on her face.

“Oh thanks! I wasn’t thinking about the fact that since coming to this school I never wore my hair down, people are bound to be surprised…” said Addison with a  bit of a worried look.

“I’m sure it will be fine, who wouldn’t think it’s simply gorgeous?!” Annie gave Addison a side hug.
“Are you ready to go in front of the whole school?”

“I am! I wrote my speech this weekend, my mom helped me. I am excited to see what will happen.” said Addison.

“You will do great, I am sure!” said Annie. Addison was so thankful to have such a sweet friend.

Before they knew it they were pulling up to the school. Everyone was to gather in the auditorium very first period. Addison prayed all the way to her locker, she put her jacket and book bag away and made her way to the auditorium, still praying as she went. It was exciting and nerve-racking at the same time. She had butterflies in her stomach.

When she got there she saw that there were 12 chairs on the stage and the 5th one from the left had her name on it. Several of the other presidents were already seated up there. She made her way to her chair, sat down and waited.  She scanned the students already sitting in the auditorium; she saw a few friendly faces, and her younger sister Renee was waving at her with a great big smile full of pride on her face. Addison smiled back. Then her gaze came across one very mean face. That one stood out. Mary Stevens was not happy.

Addison prayed quietly that things would go smoothly and tried to get the image of Mary’s angry face out of her mind. The first 4 presidents said their speeches. Now, it was her turn. She went up and read off of her paper and glanced at the audience from time to time, purposefully avoiding a certain spot. Addison told them what her plans were for the year, what she was going to try to improve and what she wanted to make sure they did. When she was done everyone clapped and she again said a quiet a prayer of thanks. God was always with her, what a comfort!

The rest of the meeting when smoothly and the bell rang announcing it was time for second period. Everyone went to their lockers and headed for class.

Addison sat down in the front row for English class. As she was opening her book to the page written on the board she felt someone grab her hair. She turned to see who it was, but before she could even see her face, Mary was pulling her hair. Pain streamed through Addison’s scalp and tears weld up in her eyes. What a mean thing to do. 

Then Mary started talking very loudly for the whole class to hear. “Can you believe Addison’s hair?! Oh my! I would die if my hair ever got that long! What do you think they invented scissors for, you weird girl! It’s not enough that you have to wear skirts all the time, now you have to flaunt your ugly long hair. I think we need to start calling you President Weirdo! What do you all think? Hahahaha! ”

 A couple of Mary’s good friends joined in on the mockery, and as it sadly usually goes when people make fun, most of the class joined in in the insults.

“I bet she thinks she is better than us, that’s why she doesn’t want to wear pants and have normal hair; we shouldn’t have voted her in as president in the first place. Well I should say you shouldn’t have, I voted for Mary!” said another girl.

Annie who was sitting by Addison, she stood up and told everyone to be quiet and leave her friend alone.
Just then, the teacher walked in and everyone pretended nothing happened. All except for Addison who had tears running down her cheeks. The teacher asked what was wrong but Addison decided not to say anything.

The rest of the day Addison avoided Mary as much as she could; she stayed away from her at recess and made sure to sit as far as she could at lunch. She kept praying about what she should do, she was hurt and upset.

On the way home, the girl sitting in front of her in the school but turned to face her.  “Hi, I’m Suzie; I was in the English class this morning. I’m sorry about what happened.”

“That’s ok, Suzie, it wasn’t your fault.” said Addison.

“Maybe not, but I shouldn’t have sat there and let them keep going. I know better than that.  I did want to ask you though, I have been thinking about it all day. Why is your hair so long? Don’t you cut it?” Suzie had a puzzled look on her face.

“No I don’t” said Addison.

Suzie looked surprised. “I think it’s beautiful and it looks really healthy, but why don’t you cut it?”

“The Bible says that my hair is my glory. I keep my hair long to show that I am in submission to God.”

“Wow! This is the first time I’ve ever heard anything like that! I’d love to learn more, but this is my stop. I’ll talk to you tomorrow!” Suzie got up and walked out of the bus. Addison waved at her out of the window and Suzie waved back with a smile.

As she was riding the rest of the way home, Addison got to thinking people probably just didn’t understand why her hair was so long. Maybe this whole ordeal with Mary was not so bad after all. Maybe God was using it so that Suzie could learn more about Him.

After getting home, Addison told her mom and dad about her day. How it went well for the most part, but how Mary attacked her in English class. They were proud of her for keeping her cool. Then she told them how Suzie asked questions on the way home from school.

“I think maybe it was all so Suzie could learn something about the Lord and what we believe, what do you think ?“ said Addison.

“You just may be right honey. I am so glad you are being a witness for Christ, with a godly attitude and with your hair and the way you dress. Your mom and I are so proud of you!” said Dad.

“Thanks Dad. I will talk to Suzie some more tomorrow and tell her more about it if she wants to.” Addison was happy. Even though her day had not gone so well, she had done the right thing, and was getting to talk about the Lord with a new friend.

The next morning, Addison sat alone and when Suzie got on the bus she came to sit with her.

“Hi Addison! How are you?” Suzie was smiling.

“Good! How about you?” asked Addison.

“I’m doing great! I’ve been thinking about your hair all evening and I even talked about it with my mom. She said she didn’t even know some people don’t cut their hair. I told her I would ask you more about it today!”
“I’m happy to tell you whatever you want to know.” said Addison.

“Ok, well first of all, what does it mean that your hair is your glory? You said that yesterday and I don’t get it.”

“It means that God gave me long hair as a sign that I am His child. It’s a symbol of His glory. All through the Bible having long hair is a sign of being under God’s authority. Having long hair is to show that I am consecrated to every word of God. It’s a vow. “Addison said.

“I understand it now. Addison, I am so impressed with you. I love that you know what you believe and why you do what you do. I’d love to learn more!” said Suzie.

 “I love the Lord, and that’s what you see, that’s why I do what I do. That’s why I follow his commands. Would you and your mom like to come to church with us this Sunday?” Addison smiled.

“I would love to, let me ask my mom tonight, and I will let you know.” Said Suzie.

Addison was so happy. It was hard to have people make fun of her and be mean, but she knew God had a plan for her to talk to Suzie about Him. She is on the earth to be a witness to others and she was so happy she was getting to do just that. For the next several days Suzie and Addison hung out a lot and talked about the Lord. Suzie and her mom decided to accept the invitation to come to church.

The End

1 Corinthians 11:15
But if a woman have long hair, it is a glory to her: for her hair is given her for a covering.

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