Dear Mr. Luukkonen,

I would like to start this letter by saying that I am still moved, two weeks after your devotion about dealing with harmful friendships. As an English student, I honestly believed your speech was quite effective. You exhibited the act of “cutting off” an undesired relationship, a toxic relationship, a relationship that will hold you back, each time you buzzed the trimmer across your scalp. My respect towards you grew greater whenever I saw a chunk of hair rain down your shoulder.

Every time your hands swiftly glided through your own hair, the air around me seemed to get colder and colder until it was cold enough for my body to become numb.

Sitting there in the middle of the bleachers, with hundreds of students cheering and applauding for you as the trimmer slid against your scalp, I allowed the gasps and screams to enter my ears from each corner of the gym. You shaved it all. Each strand of hair representing a toxic relationship that you were choosing to cut from your life.

The buzzing of the trimmer across your scalp continued and the desire to cut my own hair only seemed to grow with every second of your speech. I looked down at my own hair, it was absolutely damaged. Lengthy and split, anyone could say that it needed a trim. But, I did not have the energy to fix it anymore. I did not even have the willpower to take care of it. I did not have my courage built up that high. I would rather just throw on a beanie and pretend as if the hair that hid underneath was perfect. I even considered going bald, but is it really that easy, to just cut everything off? What if the cold wind froze my head? What if I looked ugly? What if I just could not bring myself to do it? I know it isn’t right to keep a friendship that has no value; in fact, it isn’t even fair, not to me nor my “friend.” Still, I choose to keep it.

I choose to keep them.

I keep them for I am scared to hurt someone I care about, to lose someone I care about. But more importantly, I choose to keep the friendship because I am afraid. Sometimes it seems as if the people around me define me, making me who I am, and I am afraid that if they leave, they may take that part with them, leaving me empty. Left with nothing but my skeleton. I am scared to hurt myself, to lose a part of me. But more importantly, I choose to keep the friendship because I am afraid.

Though you may know this better than I do, I would like to state this: we live in an inclusive society; we reside in a boarding school, making it harder for us to stay away from people when we tend to see them every day, everywhere.

It is of human nature to be interdependent. For thousands of years, we, as a species, have survived and come to where we are today because we rely on others. Each person plays a significant role in another’s life, thus is obliged to be with the other in order for life to function as it should. Every person that you choose to grow a relationship with matters, no matter how damaged or beautiful. Every strand of hair on your body keeps you warm, it keeps you from freezing.

It keeps you alive.

Given these reasons, can it be considered that we should try to mend the hair instead of chopping it all off?

Yours Sincerely,

Arina