To Thine Own Self Be True, or an open letter to Sara Ramirez I wrote this back in February, as Saras interview with

Latina happened to coincide with my birthday. I posted it online but didnt intend to do anything beyond that I was just organizing my thoughts in what happened to be a letter to a person I deeply respect and admire. It wasnt until several people urged me to send it that I caved into the peer pressure (luckily Im not too hard of a sell), folded it into an envelope, addressed it to Los Angeles, closed my eyes, and dropped it in the mailbox. Id never done anything like this before, but just the thought that maybe someday Sara would open that envelope, unfold the paper inside, read it, and smile was enough to calm my nerves, and I turned and walked away from the mailbox with my own smile on my face. What follows here are a couple parts of that letter. Dear Sara, When I read your interview, I was moved nearly to tears. In many ways, reading your words was like looking in a mirror, and I kept half-expecting to find my name in there somewhere. I get it. All of our experiences are different, and they are what make us into the individual people we are, so obviously, I cant commiserate exactly, but I can empathize and understand. You are so brave to share with us where you have been and what you have gone through. Thank you for taking us on that journey with you Im humbled to have seen it. Since graduating from college in 2010, Ive had a lot of time to myself. Without my friends right arou nd the corner, I have to depend on myself to make me happy. I have to find my strength from within, not from others. While theres no denying that I miss my network and my close connections, Ive come into myself in ways I hadnt anticipated. I cant wait to move away and make my own home somewhere in the world, but Im also, for the most part, content right now truly, for the first time in my life. Are there still things I wish I could change about myself? Without a doubt. But now, unlike the past years of my life, I want to change those things because I like myself and Im worth the effort, not because I hate myself and wish I were different. I am passionate, sweet, and beautiful in my own unique way. I am still absolutely nothing like anyone else, and I wouldnt change that if you paid me. Today is my twenty-third birthday and, perhaps for the first time, I am happy and excited to begin another year on Earth. Im going to go on to do great things. I dont know exactly what they are yet, but I am a positive addition to the world. So, when I read your interview, these realizations which Ive been coming to steadily for the past several months suddenly dropped onto my chest and opened my eyes. I know these things about myself, but reading your words has helped cement them, helped me understand how beautiful we all are, and helped me see that life is totally worth it. Reading the words of one of the people I respect and admire most in the world and feeling them in my own heart was a beautiful, humbling experience and I am so inspired. They couldnt have come at a better time, and they were just the push I needed to pick my chin back up, smile into the mirror, and say, Hey, lady, youre actually pretty cool. I have always believed that words have the power to change lives, and today, yours are helping me change mine. This above all else: to thine own self be true. William Shakespeare, Hamlet --Anna, a Sara Fan from Northampton, MA