Photo: TikTok
She rarely buys new things for herself and was excited to show this one off but now she's wondering if she too old to be wearing her new shoes.
By Ethan Cotler — Written on Apr 26, 2023
Getting a new piece of clothing and showing it off to your peers can feel exciting and validating. It’s not an experience that’s limited to any particular age. Even gray-haired businessmen will wear a new tie around the office, trying to lock eyes to get compliments.
In one instance, a college student who was excited to show off her fun shoes was instead met with harsh criticism.
She cried after a ‘bunch of girls’ in her class made fun of her light-up roller skate shoes.
Christine Tesalona posts comedic content to the video-sharing app TikTok. But in an April 2023 video, she shared an emotional moment after dealing with bullying. We tend to think of bullying as something we leave behind when going to college. But that is absolutely not the case, and Tesalona’s story is one of many examples proving it.
She described going to school, happy to show off her new wardrobe addition, just for other students to dash her excitement. Tesalona is a nursing student at Molloy University in New York State.
In her video, she writes, “POV: [You’re] really excited ab[ou]t showing off [yo]ur new outfit but a bunch of girls in [yo]ur class just make fun of [yo]u instead," before she went into more detail about what happened.
“When I got to school today, I was really excited because I just got these new shoes that turn into roller skates, and they light up,” she said through tears.
She explained that she does not buy new things often, so it makes sense why she was so happy to wear them out! “I never buy anything nice for myself. And I was really excited to go to class today to show them off,” she continued. The video ends with her sharing a sad remark about how she feels after the girls laughed at her.
“It doesn’t feel very good,” she said, choking up more recounting the experience.
People overwhelmingly supported her, dismissing the haters.
“Show us the shoes babe. They sound really cool. If they make you [happy] then that’s all that matters,” one person commented.
“Darling, I would love to have friends that dress as cool as you. This breaks my heart, your sense of style is amazing!” another added. Tesalona asked the TikTok community if her outfit choice was age-appropriate in her video’s caption. “Am I too old to dress like this?” she wrote.
Many people shared their own outfit decisions that quiet the notion that clothing has an age attached to it.
“I’m 43 this Friday and my birthday outfit includes a unicorn headband,” one person wrote. Another said they would, “rather make my inner child happy than others.”
Many people called the group of girls “jealous” and “insecure” for laughing at Tesalona. She gave thanks in the comment section for everyone’s support and validation.
“I know it was a small thing to cry over, but I felt like I was in 5th grade all over again and just needed to vent,” she wrote. “Thank you, everybody, for all your kind words-I will be replying to every single one of them instead of studying for finals lol.”
Fortunately, Tesalona found the support she needed. But a survey found that over 63% of students in higher education witnessed bullying, and over 27% reported being a victim themselves. Bullies don’t go away when you get older, so standing up for someone when you witness it can really help. Even a simple act of kindness can mean the world to someone, like complimenting their new shoes!
Ethan Cotler is a writer living in Boston. His writing covers entertainment, news and human interest stories.