Page 104 - Secondary School BEATS

Finding My Kaleidoscope:
Unveiling the Spectrum Within
When I reached highschool, I never quite
felt right. Something was always missing
when I grew up. Maybe it was because of
the terrors of my home life, or the way I felt
when I watched romance movies with my
friends. But I'd have never guessed it would
turn out this way.
During freshman year, I used to hate talking
to my peers about their love lives. I couldn't
relate at all. I never thought of a man like
that, but I felt like I had to. My friends
always talked about their crushes. "He's so
attractive! I wonder when he'll finally notice
me... Maybe I could ask him on a date?" Said
my friend, Liv, who, I now realized, I had a
crush on. She made me so happy, like a
warm breeze in winter. I loved making her
smile and we stayed friends throughout the
school year. I could never tell her how I felt
about her; I knew how she'd react to it. She
never approved of what I felt, and often gave
me a side-eyed look when I mentioned how
pretty the girls on the volleyball team were.
Who knew eyes could look so cruel?
Going home wasn't any easier. My mom
loved preaching the Bible, sometimes, it'd
get on my nerves. The way she said (with
a cross in her hand, that in my opinion
was too graphic to keep at home), "Repent
for your sins, for only god will lead you to
paradise!" sounded so condescending. My
dad was never home; he preferred going
out with ladies he met at his office. I didn't
have siblings I could depend on, well not
anymore. I had a sister, we couldn't talk
about her at the time. She did something so
terrible. It wasn't important as she couldn't
help me. She never did.
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“Gather round the fireplace children! Let me
I stayed in my room all day after school.
Often reading e-books and listening to
music I had downloaded. It distracted me
from the bland, beige emptiness of my
room. The sound that echoed through the
ceiling every time wind blew through my
stained window, the feeling of hate I had
for myself, and the screaming coming from
behind my closed door.
I remember one day, I was at Liv's house.
She had wifi so I usually visited there to use
my laptop. I got a news notification that I
caught from the corner of my eye. A parade,
a parade to celebrate our differences. The
colors of the rainbow on their flags were a
sight to see after being in my cream coloured
room all day. "Hey Liv, look at this." I said to
her as I got off her pink bed. "Ew. They're so
weird. Why would they do that? There are
kids there!" She replied with disgust.
That was my last straw. "I'm going." I said
and walked out. I was never so confident in
my life, but now I was sure where I wanted
to go. When I finally reached there, I knew
that was my home. With people like me,
people with colorful personalities. I pledged
to never stop being myself. I was enough for
myself and that's all I needed.
By Aesha Eshal Athawale
tell you all a story,” said old Sandra, Pulling up
a piece of paper made long, long ago. As the
kids started to settle down, Sandra told them
a story about how she was insulted for her
gender long ago in school. “When I was a
little girl, I used to love being a tomboy! I
used to love the colour blue as well. It was
soccer competition day and I was so excited.
But, I overheard a few girls named Chloe, and
Rachel talking about something. Rachel was
the school bully and was very jealous of me.
Anyways, they were talking about destroying
soccer competition day by turning off the
electricity supply of the whole school! I had
to stop my favourite day from getting
destroyed! So, I went up to them and said,
Don't do that! Some people don’t want
soccer competition day to get destroyed!
Rachel, the girl who is jealous of me and the
school bully said “Oh of course! You wouldn’t
want soccer competition day to get cancelled
because you are a *boy*! You like soccer and
blue, unlike other girls here.” I was so mad at Shattering the Stereotypes
Rachel to say that to me! But I was even more Breaking the Chains,
mad at her for discriminating the genders!
People should get equal opportunities no
matter what their gender! It’s not that boys
like blue and girls like pink. It’s not that boys
play sports and girls do their nails. Both
genders are equal and should get equal job
opportunities. All around the world, boys get
so many more and better job opportunities
than girls. Soon, we should change this by
bringing gender equality to the world!
Together, we can make anything happen!”
Sandra finished her story. Now, the kids
started to make posters and flyers on gender
equality. Sandra was so happy, as she took a
deep breath, and fell asleep in her rocking
chair.
So, we should all follow gender equality and
never discriminate between a girl or a boy
based on their gender.
By Dishita Bakshi (MYP 1)
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