That entire plane ride I couldn’t wait to see my cousins again. It had been a year and as much as I love crappy airplane food and the seven hours of movies, I just wanted to get off and step foot into England. It was last year December 24th to be exact. My family and I were taking a little trip to England for two weeks. I still remember that first time I got onto a plane to America, it was different, something I didn’t expect, but to be back in England it feels like home, where we all blend in. No one stares because everyone knows. Finally, the plane landed and all I could think of was seeing more Sikhs. I un-clicked my seatbelt, got up, took the small bags, and was heading out, I said thanks and bye to the fight attendant and then I saw a guy, a Sikh. I was walking towards him in the big tube thing that connected the plane to the airport. He had a turban just like I do and he worked at the airport. I said hi to him in my language. He just stared at me, didn’t say anything back, and looked at me as if I were the biggest idiot in the world.
I then realized what I had done. England is quite a small country, most states are bigger, and there are the same amount of Sikhs that live in England as do in America. I then thought to myself how isolated Sikhs are in America. So, I put my head back down and kept walking thinking about how in England you may see ten to fifteen Sikhs a day, in America you may see ten to fifteen Sikhs over a month or even longer. Something needed to be done, more Sikhs in America? More Sikhs in the world? How bout keeping our identity?
It took me a while to realize all this, but the Sikhs in England weren’t exactly true all the time. Many of them had conformed and changed the way they look. This happens all around the world, but not as much as it does in America. So, for the first time I couldn’t wait to get back to America. I couldn’t wait to back and see how people look at me, I couldn’t wait to walk proudly knowing that I was different. England is filled with Sikhs and its a norm seeing one everyday, the battle has already been won there. Its the other places of the world that haven’t seen Sikhs. I wouldn’t understand how the world really is if I didn’t move to America. It is a struggle for anyone who is different and I wanted the challenge. I couldn’t wait to go back to hear the first person say why do you look like that? I want to see more Sikhs in America, and the only way people will see is if we continue to keep our identity, something that I will never get rid of.
I really like that even though many Sikhs are changing the way they look to make them sort of unrecognizable that you stayed the same. Keeping your identity is very dear to you and is the same for me. You understand the challenge that you face and you are able to face it and in a positive way. A way that is encouraging for others to join your religion. If I was placed in the same position as you I don’t think I’d be able to be as informative as you are, I’d probably get very angry at people for looking at me different then they do everyone else. What you are able to do is very encouraging and I really enjoyed your monologue.