Five Lessons from the Jada and Will Situation

 *Please note that these points apply to adults, not children.

As I imagined it would be, the Oscar slap heard around the world was news for a few days and then it was on to the next things. But I have been mulling it over for the past few weeks and came up with five life lessons that this situation can teach all of us.

  1. We need to dig deep to find our self-worth. I understand and know too well that we can believe we are okay with ourselves and our circumstances and then something happens that makes us realize that we still have work to do. I believe that is the situation that Jada faced. She thought she was okay but was not yet mentally prepared for the negative.
  2. We need to prepare ourselves for negative comments and naysayers. Because I guarantee you that they are coming. What I mean by that is that we can’t just be okay with ourselves while everyone is giving us praise, telling us how brave or beautiful we are. We need to be mentally and emotionally prepared for those who do not like our decisions and may, in fact, be downright rude. We need to prepare for that, too. 
  3. Before you find yourself protecting someone, make sure they want to be protected. It was Jada’s fight to fight. Indeed, I feel that these situations are ours to fight. Even in the case of Will and Jada, Will stood up for her but it may not have been wanted. I may be wrong, but I have yet to see Jada come out and defend him. 

I don’t expect nor want my husband, RJ, to jump up and fight my battles for me every time someone says something to me that may hurt my feelings. I much prefer him in the background saying, “That a girl!”

  1. We can't allow self-worth to come from the outside. We need to find our self-acceptance and self-worth on the inside. Otherwise, we will only feel confident when everything is lined up in our favor. We need to be able to feel good about ourselves and our situation no matter what others may think.
  2. Seriously challenge the things that people say to you in your own mind. Does no hair undeniably make a woman look like a man, or does a man who has long hair all of a sudden look like a woman? Or, if it is some smart-aleck saying it, does it make it a fact? 

What are your thoughts? Do you think we need a hero to save us, or do we need to be our own hero and save ourselves? 

 

More content on Self-Acceptance

 

Views: 452

Comment by Jan on September 28, 2022 at 10:29pm

I feel that the Jada event opened up a whole new world of awareness and familiarity to the term Alopecia. While I have had Alopecia Areata for years, I lost all my hair quite quickly a month ago. I made my husband promise to educate people not fight for me. It is amazing how many people have never heard of Alopecia and by choosing not to cover my head, I am able to educate them.

Comment by Picdubois on September 29, 2022 at 12:17pm

I'm not concerned about my appearance as I have been comfortable with myself since forever. A compromised immune system that no one knows anything about is more in line with my thinking. What has anyone done about cause/cure? What happens next? Let's make some progress in the real world and stop worrying about Jada and Wil

Comment by Pat on December 5, 2022 at 1:15am

Will's reaction was completely over the top imo. I suppose people have now heard of aa but I think it was still a negative with the focus being on the slap rather than on Jada. She seems perfectly ok with her aa and doesn't cover it up - although I would never have picked that she had it. 

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