outsider
MY LIFE AS AN
Harsh insults, being pushed around, unfair treatment, and the feeling of constantly being scared - these are just some of the painful experiences that I had gone through and even still do sometimes today. People often ask me why these bad things happened to me specifically and I just say “Well, the reason is just my skin color and my nationality.” These events can be either humorous or tragic. It is up to oneself to find the underlying purpose of their situation. Morality and religion are two aspects I always refer back to when I have to deal with any difficulty in life. Since I was a little boy, my religious and moral beliefs sometimes led to disadvantages for me in my social community. For instance, it can be being treated unjustly in certain situations or receiving harsh comments from people you’ve never met in your life. Having grown up as Pakistani-Muslim boy in New York, I have struggled in ways that shaped who I am today. It has given me the strength to live my life with confidence and selfassurance. One of the most tragic and heart breaking moments in America can easily be identified as the September 11 attacks. Approximately three thousand people died that day alone. The attack was from Al-Qaeda, an extremist Islamic group. After this event, the way people looked upon those with an Islamic background changed forever in America history. My peers in school were well aware of my Pakistani background. Sadly, several of them ridiculed me for being a Pakistani-Muslim. Going into junior high and even high school, there have been moments where people said “Go away terrorist, no one wants you here. Why don’t you just go back to your own country and harm people there?” This often led me to think to myself, “Why don’t I go back? Am I really a bad person?” It would only take me a matter of seconds to realize that I am not a bad person and that I shouldn’t go back anywhere. Regardless of the pain and agony that I endured, there was one thing I had to realize at all times; Submitting to what everyone wants me to do would never fix any of my problems. Even as a young boy myself, I did not necessarily take racist comments into deep analytical thought. However, people with Islamophobia gave me pain that was natural for any human to feel. Being at the top of my class, I started to question why my academic successes did not keep the children from insulting me. I never brought pain to others, and worked diligently in school. I was just like any other elementary-school boy. I played basketball, watched cartoons, and climbed trees just like everyone else. I was too young to realize that apparently the color of my skin or my religious beliefs could segregate me
By: Mohammed Saad Malik
10
ASIAN OUTLOOK