INTRODUCTION
Reimagine a life with no hair. How is that possible? Well, most babies are naturally born with no hair, or perhaps just a few, and that adds to their incredible cuteness, but for a typical teenage boy at 17, such a question is a tragic, embarrassing, confusing, and seems no answer.
WHO IS CJ?
Celeryjude E. Panolino, or cj as his nickname, was born on November 7, 2000, in Tacloban City to Mr. Jerry Panolino and Mrs. Joselyn Estolino Panolino. He was the eldest child of the three wonderful siblings. As a little lad, he grew up in typical Filipino family, raised with respect and virtue in character in all manners of living. With great obedience, through his parents, he followed the rules stringently in the family. To complete being a child, it was in their locality that he spent all his schooling days.
YOUNG AGE*
At a young age, he was an active participant in the various church musical activities. As musical performer, he tutored aspirant musicians in their church for free. On one Sunday, during an altar calling, he prayed to experience a rare life encounter. Since he was just a young boy at the time, that request seemed a bubble vanished in the air.
TEENAGE DAYS
Attending school was customarily usual. Given the situations where classmates did group studies, going to and fro with paper works and other related school performances, consequently, some were bad influence. They became his close associates, adding to his circle of acquaintances. Little did he know that, inch-by-inch, he became casual with them and eventually got acquainted with their demeanors and trends. Remorsefully, he was unaware of it because on weekdays he was mingling with his friends, while on weekends he was giving a portion of his time devoting to God especially in the music ministry. In short, he was a double spy. Doing right and wrong things simultaneously.
SWAY
Too bad for CJ. Those attachments, led him go astray from God, and worst of all, he eventually became addicted to Dota and Mobile Legend. He even had too many awful, trashy talks. It was during this moment that he felt tied up, and it was hard for him to release himself from it. The pleasure it brought him was too enticing to resist. Part of his mind was admonishing him to stop doing it, yet the other half was in disparity. Thus, "he was at the end of his rope."
BALDNESS MADNESS
In December 2017, he was graduating from junior high school when he took notice of his head. Hairs kept falling in a mass. He just shrugged it off for quiet sometimes. Until some portions of his head were patchingly receding and balding off by themselves continuously. Bothered a bit by what was happening, he strived to cover it with some of his longer hair, strategically. However, over time, he could no longer hush it up. That being so, his parents became anxious about his condition and in haste procured a variety of medicines in shops, coupled with constant hope that he would recover soon. However, it was a disdain.
Driven by urgency, together with his parents, they sought medical advice, and from there, they ascertained that he had a medical head condition called "alopecia." He was given some treatment, but it remained unsolved. Thus, he made up his mind to entirely shave his head off. Moving forward, a few of his known friends suggested that he should have at least mildly wounded his head to set off the hair growth, while a relative brought a swarm of flies unbelievably. Those mentioned were, for him, too dense and objectionable to believe. He's had enough!
MEDICAL CONDITION
What is an Alopecia?
Alopecia areata is a chronic ailment that targets the follicles of hair in the body resulting in an even hair loss in the entire body, but in most cases it affects the head scalp. In some serious cases, medications may not respond to therapy.
WITH HIS BONNET ON
A bonnet! That popped up in his mind. A resolution to conceal his baldness. Thus, in school, he remained fastened to two bonnets in a day. He painstakingly thrived to endure the warmth that this cloth had produced, as long as it kept hidden from the critics and "marites" in english gossipy. Despite this effort, people's curiosity was instead greatly heightened. Some theorized that he might have undergone chemotherapy due to cancer, as it should have sparked the framed idea in their minds upon seeing him in such an image. Each day was a discomfort for him, especially knowing that this was the stage of being "papogi" or in english handsome. Nevertheless, he still managed to do his part as a student despite being on the brink of depression.
(Agony and Shame)
CJ, on the other hand, didn't have the boldness to clear up the cause of "keeping under one's hat." He remained at hush. Until one time in their class, his teacher got miffed about his habitual bonneting and told him to take it off. Though he was reluctant to do so, he took off his bonnet as everybody in the classroom aimed their gaze at his location 😥 He was frozen in his chair for a few seconds. The scene resembled a climactic film in the TV episode "Magpakailanman". Untimely, indeed those were the times when he was wrestling so much to regain his self-esteem and was sadly creeping toward that point in the lowest valley.
Struck dumb at her feet, his teacher was at a loss for words, watching a pale face in shame, and began to utter in a low apologetic voice, allowing him to put back his bonnet on. In that instance, all his classmates knew of his plight. Surprisingly, some of his classmates cheered him up afterwards.
TAKING OFF HIS SHAME
That started him to show off his baldness to everybody, not because he had overcome the freight of being criticized but because he was persuaded and had given credence to the fact that he was not admirable at all. To top it all, he wanted to finally undress his physical flaws. Grasping to the realization that our immaterial being outweighed more than the physical one. However, he couldn't protest to stop against those bullies in school. He was not a hearthrob though, yet he became a headturner and the perfect spot of interest on campus because his glossy head was an eye sore to everyone.
Some anime cartoon characters were attributed to him, such as; "one punch saitama, crelin at dragon ballz" etc. He was striving with shame and an aching heart due to bullying, and an emotional dwarf crept in. There were moments that he questioned his life because he was puzzled by his present quandary. He made himself available pleasing to God by redeeming the lost time due to his bad friend before, but yet looked what happened? In dismay, he would cry his heart out.
To continue further, he enrolled in Eastern Visayas State University and took up an engineering course, where he gradually gaining back his self-worth as a person. In his NSTP subject, he chose the Air Force as a prerequisite to his course because all of them were required to shave their heads. With this account, his baldness caught the attention of his instructor, for he was remarkably appreciated by his so-called "perfect cut". With this, he just smiled faintly 😉.
SOMEONE WHO UNDERSTANDS
Of the many people who mocked and judged him as a person, there's someone, aside from his family, who "put in a good word for him". Since the beginning of his ordeal, she has never waned her emotional support for him. And most of all, she completely accepted CJ for who he was. 🥰
RARE LIFE ENCOUNTER
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One morning, CJ was awestruck in wonder as he felt a pricked on his head; it was likened to a sprouting of seed. The next day flies until it was NSTP time in December 2020. Upon arrival, his classmates, in great surprise, noticed that his hair was growing for the first time, and that resulted in the joyous chanting of everyone! Excited to mirror himself home, he could not believe what he saw. Tiny hairs were sprouting all over after almost 3 years. He sobbed much to his wonder and praised God for answering their prayer. CJ continued his passion in music, but this time packed with important lessons in life.
REFLECTION:
There are bonnets within us that have assorted shades, motiffs, and sizes depending on the kind of personality that we want to hide. However, just like CJ, why not shake those fear and shame off? Let us embrace the fact that we all commit inexorable failures in life, pitched frustrations at times, flaws undoable of any surgical procedure of our own, and irremediable consequences. It is about time to underscore our shred issues that are too wide to stitch with our frail hands. Be prepared to shakehand those exasperations, and be willing to give it up to the One who can revive back twice our losses. Therefore, let us surrender the pride that robs us of our true happiness and begin to clothe ourselves with purity and humility.
OTHER PHOTOS
That would be all for today.
My unwavering thanks to all of you mga ka hive for spending time reading this story. Until next time, bye.☺️