Chapter+6

Chapter 6

I was in shock after I read just one week of Aasmaa’s journal. I couldn’t understand what it would feel like to be her and going through this. I can’t believe I was one of those people who made judgments on her, because of how she looks. I was one of those people who really didn’t know and just made assumptions. I was really excited to go to Tolerance on Tuesdays and find out more. That next Tuesday I went to the meeting. At this meeting a boy whose family was from Poland was talking about his culture with everyone. He explained why Polish people come here. He talked about their religious beliefs, what kind of food they eat and traditions they share in America. I thought this sounded like something I did in elementary school, except we didn’t have any students from a Muslim background to share their lives. Aasmaa explained the point of this group isn’t just to talk about culture. Each week they do talk about a different culture, religion, or heritage, but they also talk about current events and identify stereotypes that are created or formed based on what is going on. The group tries to identify where issues begin and stop them before they leave this room. It is an open discussion for all and has received a lot of good feedback from the teachers, guidance counselors, and principal. Aasmaa named it in honor of September 11th, which happened on a Tuesday.

I asked Aasmaa how she has felt since she began this group. She said it definitely has made a difference within the school. Students are much more accepting of others and racism and being prejudice toward Muslims has stopped for the most part. She said all it takes is for someone to teach others about their differences to actually make a difference. She was right, it worked. She changed my thoughts. I couldn’t believe before this I was making judgments on her just by how she looked. I was lucky to see into her life and how she felt about this. I hope that I can teach others about differences also.