sticks and stones
i was reading this article by mrbrown and it struck a chord. the saying "sticks and stones may break my bones but words will never hurt me" couldn't be further from the truth. when children are at that highly malleable stage in life, words and looks can leave a lifelong impact. i mean even as adults, we find it hard to manage criticism, what more a child who needs to be nurtured? in schools, kids themselves don't discriminate. they learn it from their parents initially. "eeh... don't go near that funny looking indian boy. after that you also want to have skin like him?" this happened when i was around 9 or 10 and had vitiligo all over my body. actually not really all over. had patches around my eyes and a patch on my chin and elbows and on my lower legs. i was like a young bogeyman!! cool funky shit. i could have been the monster under the bed of that kid who'd eat the kid if he didn't close his eyes and fall asleep. thank god, such instances were few and far between. i'd usually forget that i looked different from the rest, until such incidents occurred, and i must say you don't get used to it. people think that you develop a thick skin towards such things, but that requires a certain amount of maturity that i did not have at that time.
luckily, my face cleared up by the time i got to secondary school and now it is just on my legs where the patches are clearly visible. i'm glad that for the most part, people can look beyond the skin. ignorance breeds fear of the unknown. confrontation doesn't help when you wish to spread the truth, i realise. sometimes i'd like more people to have shallow hal vision. it might make the world a better place...
luckily, my face cleared up by the time i got to secondary school and now it is just on my legs where the patches are clearly visible. i'm glad that for the most part, people can look beyond the skin. ignorance breeds fear of the unknown. confrontation doesn't help when you wish to spread the truth, i realise. sometimes i'd like more people to have shallow hal vision. it might make the world a better place...
