Dear World, I'm Different

Dear World,

I’m different.

I’m not like you, I’m not like him, I’m not like her, I’m not like them. I’m me, and I’m different. But that doesn’t mean you should judge me, that you should discriminate against me, that you should treat me any differently than you would treat anyone else.

I am a South Asian Muslim girl living in the United States. I have different beliefs, I have different customs, I have a different lifestyle. But that doesn’t mean I should be the one you pull aside for a ‘random’ security check, that you should force me to remove my hijab, that you should go through all my personal belongings to make sure I’m not hiding weapons of destruction, that you should scorn me, that you should degrade me, that you should attack me, that you should yell at me to ‘go back home’, even though my home is right here.

I am gifted and talented. I learn differently, I think differently, I have to be taught differently. But that doesn’t mean you should call me out because of it, that you should knock my books out of my hands, that you should snatch my glasses off my face, that you should taunt me, that you should ignore me, that you should abandon me after years of friendship.

I am unhealthy. My body looks different from the ideal girl’s body, my body has different needs from your body, I need doctors that are different from your doctors, I take medicines that are different from the medicines you take if you take any. But that doesn’t mean you should call me fat, that you should call me ugly, that you should point and snicker or sneer, that you should look at with contempt, that you should forget I am just as human as you, that you should forget humans aren’t perfect.

I have mental issues. My mind works differently, I look at things differently, I work differently. But that doesn’t mean you should call me a freak, that you should call me a monster, that you should suggest I go to an asylum or psych ward, that you should push people away from me.

I am part of the LGBTQ+ community. I like people that are different from people you like, my feelings toward some people is different from your feelings towards said people. But that doesn’t mean you should hate me, that you should call me the spawn of Satan, that you should say I’m doomed for Hell, that you should assume things about me, that you should play with me, my feelings.

I am me and I am different, but that doesn’t mean you should look at me any differently than you would look at anyone else.

That doesn’t mean you should love me any differently than you love anyone else.

Love,

Chephira Manor