I Am American Despite What You See

Independence Day, the 4th of July. I am an American, but there have been too many times where I do not feel that I am such. Is this what the forefathers fought to achieve? This is the “United” States of America, right? If it is so, then why do we still experience racism today? We are too busy looking at one another as being different, that it is impossible to be “united.” I Identify myself as Indian because I have been put into the “other” box too many times. I was born and raised in America, America is all I know yet the way people treat you makes all of the difference.

I cannot count the number of times people (this includes people of  Indian background) have asked me where I was born, or when I came to America, and they are shocked every single time. I was even put in ESL when I was in grade school, but I know It had nothing to do with my ability to read and write, it was because my skin happens to be brown. And that is not even the tip of the iceberg; someone even had the nerve to tell me to go back to India! This incident took place in the year 2012, yes 2012 … I don’t even need to explain how I felt, WE HAVE A COLORED PRESIDENT FOR GOODNESS SAKES! Science shows us we are all the same, when looking at DNA there is no way to tell whether the person is black or green or purple or white or blue or yellow or brown or orange or red or violet or salmon or corral or etc … look at a 64 crayon’s box. Then why are we still wasting time and energy making people feel as though they do not belong. NEWS FLASH: none of us belong!!! Native Americans? .. ringing any bells?

So what are we celebrating independence from? Ourselves? The “other?” They are one in the same. I am not saying don’t celebrate the 4th of july, go out have some fun, BBQ, have a few drinks, watch some fireworks, or light some yourself. The 4th of July 1776 is no small accomplishment, this was the birth of our country, without the events that lead up to this date, we would not be here. All I ask is that you think about this the next time you encounter hate toward another person based on the color of their skin. As Aesop once said, “United we stand, divided we fall.”

~ Red, White, Blue

Eye Candy

How many of you clicked on this because of the picture above? SEX SELLS! Am I right or am I right?

Social experiment: Go out of the house looking like a bum; baggy clothes, no makeup, messy hair, etc. and see how people treat you. Then go out dressed up, look “fly” for lack of a better term; nice clothes, makeup, hair looking good, etc., then take note on how people treat you. Once you have done this, comment below, let me know how it goes :P.

I have done this, and when I discovered the difference I was shocked. I mostly noticed the difference when I went to the bank. The personal bankers help people that are standing in line if all of the tellers are busy. The day I was dressed like a “bum,” I was completely ignored and I had to wait in line, while the person that got there after me was helped first. The next time I went to that bank I looked “Fly,” the gentleman came up to me as I walked in, I didn't have to do anything, he took care of everything for me, he even filled out the slip. You can EVEN notice the difference walking down a busy street, more people will smile and say hello when you look nice. What does this say about our society? Are we, as a society, shallow and only care about what people look like or what they can offer us? I think YES!

Society as a whole is egotistical, shallow, and self centered. YUP I said it! …  now that I’ve got your attention. The point I am making, is this: the way we are treated is based on our appearance. Think about the classic scenario of buying a drink for a pretty stranger in a bar. What makes this person special enough for you to buy them a drink? Would you buy a drink for someone who was unattractive, but still looks like they really could use it (ruling out alcoholics)? This type of social exchange is purely based on the other person’s looks. If the other person takes the drink, it is because they find the buyer attractive and who in their right mind would turn down a free drink?!?!  

How we should look is embedded in our society, songs we listen to, the things we watch dictate how we perceive ourselves, and it is much worse for women (Guys disagree? comment!).This makes us think that we are never good enough, our hair is never straight or curly enough, we CANNOT leave the house without makeup on, and we must shave our legs, we have to be skinny etc. the list goes on forever! If we do not do these things we do not fit in and are labeled as something we are not. Take shaving for example, if a woman does not shave she is labeled as a hippie, or a feminist, but how do you know if you have not talked to the person? I think that how you look should not be a defining factor. If people look different or dress differently, this does not offer any insight into what type of person they are, give them a chance and get to know them and DO NOT make any assumptions about them. Check my post about weird here, love the “weird” EMBRACE IT O.o.

The fact of the matter is that people jump to conclusions based on your appearance, and there is nothing we can do about that. However we can be the change we wish to see, and make the difference. If you yourself do not judge others based on their appearance then you have changed your ENTIRE world, the mind is a powerful thing.

~Ta

Religion: Friend or Foe?

A controversial topic, but it does not have to be. I feel that everyone has to believe in something, that may be Jesus, Buddha, the Guru, the Creator, Allah, or the many gods of Hinduism (and I know I am missing many others). Even those who are atheist and agnostic still believe in something. I have been putting off talking about religion because I do not want to offend anyone.

I love to hear about other’s religion, you can get a general idea about a person by learning about their spiritual beliefs. I think one of the main reason Americans do not like to talk about religion is because it is embedded in our schools; we are not allowed to talk about religion. As a result, at an early age we think that there is something wrong with talking about it. We think that it will only result in conflict. We are allowing the fear of “the Other,” settle into our minds as young people because we simply do not talk about our differences. We have to learn to be more than ok with “the Other,” after all America is made up of “the Other.” We can only learn by talking about our differences, ultimately we will see that we are not all that different.

A few weeks back I was walking my dog, and I was approached by a man who wanted to talk about Jesus. I have no problem with having a friendly conversation about religion, we all have the right to believe in what we want to. The gentleman that I was talking to did not know much else other than Christianity, so I began to ask him how Christianity differs from other religions. It quickly became apparent to me that his view of religion was narrow, because he was stuttering and I could tell he was getting a bit nervous. I’m sure he regretted stopping me. There was one question that put him over the top, and that was “How is Jesus any different than Buddha?” His answer was “WELL Jesus is the SON of god.” and up until that point he was talking about respecting other’s beliefs, so naturally, I said, “Well what if I believe that Buddha is also the son of God?” This was also odd to me because I was raised with the belief that we are ALL the children of God. He did not have an answer for me, so the gentleman with him, stepped in and handed me a copy of the bible and said that I would find the answers to all of my questions in there.

The next time I run into this gentleman I would like to say to him to broaden his perspective. I was raised in a household where we respect everyone's faith, and it was encouraged to go learn about others. Whether or not you agree with religion, or a particular religion, it is a good thing to know what people believe in.

Being ignorant about different; religions, cultures, and race leaves people confused and angry. Living in a post 9/11 America some people have shown what our system has really done. Being of the Sikh religion this is a topic that is close to me, there are many stories that have impacted how I view ignorance toward religion. If you are unaware about what took place among the American Sikh community, please check out this music video my brothers have put together, “We Are All Sikhs.” This video shows that we are all the same.

There are extremists in every religion, the media picks up on those stories, this is what negatively affects our world view. I am sure there are people in the world who are making the effort to make this world a better place, but we don’t hear about that. Immediately after 9/11 I remember hearing my peers talking about how muslims were all bad, everything we saw on TV was the Taliban and that was the only view my peers had. A group of friends and I were talking about the towers and how bad the situation was when someone in the group I had known for 4 years said to me,”Hareena, Why you sad? It was your people who were responsible.” At the time I was more shocked than anything else, I was shocked at this person’s ignorance. How could my friend of 4 years say this to me? I am an American and I was put into “the Other” box in such a public way, at the moment in time I could have done or said any number of things but I simply said, “I am not a Muslim, and even if I was, what motive would I have to blow up some buildings? Not all Muslims are bad.”

Just last week I was sitting down with a co-worker (someone I only just met a few days before), and we were having a conversation about religion, how normal is this? It’s not! We were both ok talking about the subject, and we both had a broad view when it came to religion, Eastern and Western alike. We both have a passion to learn more. We never stop learning, but we cannot do that if we continue to judge others, not only judging others based on faith, but judging others period. Why can’t we have more of these moments? We need to create these moments with others, especially children so they can learn that there is nothing wrong with talking about religion.

With that being said I am going to leave you a quote by Thomas Jefferson, “I never considered a difference of opinion in politics, in religion, in philosophy, as cause for withdrawing from a friend.”

~Ta