Be Kind, and Be Yourself
Has anyone ever told you that your name doesn’t matter? Has anyone ever told you to move to a different country because of your race or religion? Has anyone ever told you to change? I am Rusna Sangha, and I have been told horrible things about myself that no one should ever have to hear. It started off with students. I was in kindergarten at Robert J. Burch Elementary School. We were cleaning up after a class activity when a girl came up to me. She said this: “You’re Indian, why don’t you go back to your Indian school?” At first, I thought that this is just a little girl at a young age where kids don’t really know what they are saying. The next time something like this happened, was in second grade at lunch. My friend, Gabby, was telling me about her vacation to New York when I heard giggles coming from the opposite end of the table. A bunch of girls and boys were pointing fingers at me and saying, “Hey look, its Rus-nut.” I turned away and tried to ignore the fact that they were making fun of my name, by telling myself that they were just ignorant second graders. The rest of the year was hard for me. Many still called me by that name to poke fun and annoy me. I told my parents, and we moved schools the next year. Now, people had made fun of who I was twice. I kept telling myself that kids were young and didn’t know the meaning of their words. But, it was when a teacher made a comment about my name when I realized that there are people in the world who just don’t like different things. I was in 7th grade during a Literacy class. The teacher said that he was going to call roll. I put my book down to listen for my name to be called. The teacher went through the list and finally came to my name. Like most teachers, he mispronounces it. Instead of ‘Rusna,’ he says ‘Roosna.’ It's a very common mistake, and I politely tell him that my name is ‘Rusna,’ not ‘Roosna.’ But, instead of correcting his mistake and saying ‘Rusna,’ he tells me this: “It doesn’t matter.” What? Did he just tell me that my name doesn’t matter? A full grown man doesn’t have the decency to simply correct his mistake and say my name properly? Not even that, but he chooses to tell me that it doesn’t matter? I went home that night and told my parents. …show more content…
My mother was in California, on a work trip, so I asked my dad what to do. He told me to go back into that teacher’s classroom tomorrow and tell him that what he said was wrong, and that he should never say something like that again. I then explained that I would get into trouble for saying that to a teacher. My dad looked at me in disbelief and asked me this question: “A certified teacher for the Fayette County Public School system can tell you that your name doesn’t mean anything, and you can’t tell him that he is wrong?” I nodded my head and thought about his words, when a thought crossed my mind. Should I change who I am, so that I don’t get treated like this? No, just because that teacher thinks he can tell me that my name doesn’t mean anything, doesn’t mean that I have to
Has anyone ever told you that your name doesn’t matter? Has anyone ever told you to move to a different country because of your race or religion? Has anyone ever told you to change? I am Rusna Sangha, and I have been told horrible things about myself that no one should ever have to hear. It started off with students. I was in kindergarten at Robert J. Burch Elementary School. We were cleaning up after a class activity when a girl came up to me. She said this: “You’re Indian, why don’t you go back to your Indian school?” At first, I thought that this is just a little girl at a young age where kids don’t really know what they are saying. The next time something like this happened, was in second grade at lunch. My friend, Gabby, was telling me about her vacation to New York when I heard giggles coming from the opposite end of the table. A bunch of girls and boys were pointing fingers at me and saying, “Hey look, its Rus-nut.” I turned away and tried to ignore the fact that they were making fun of my name, by telling myself that they were just ignorant second graders. The rest of the year was hard for me. Many still called me by that name to poke fun and annoy me. I told my parents, and we moved schools the next year. Now, people had made fun of who I was twice. I kept telling myself that kids were young and didn’t know the meaning of their words. But, it was when a teacher made a comment about my name when I realized that there are people in the world who just don’t like different things. I was in 7th grade during a Literacy class. The teacher said that he was going to call roll. I put my book down to listen for my name to be called. The teacher went through the list and finally came to my name. Like most teachers, he mispronounces it. Instead of ‘Rusna,’ he says ‘Roosna.’ It's a very common mistake, and I politely tell him that my name is ‘Rusna,’ not ‘Roosna.’ But, instead of correcting his mistake and saying ‘Rusna,’ he tells me this: “It doesn’t matter.” What? Did he just tell me that my name doesn’t matter? A full grown man doesn’t have the decency to simply correct his mistake and say my name properly? Not even that, but he chooses to tell me that it doesn’t matter? I went home that night and told my parents. …show more content…
My mother was in California, on a work trip, so I asked my dad what to do. He told me to go back into that teacher’s classroom tomorrow and tell him that what he said was wrong, and that he should never say something like that again. I then explained that I would get into trouble for saying that to a teacher. My dad looked at me in disbelief and asked me this question: “A certified teacher for the Fayette County Public School system can tell you that your name doesn’t mean anything, and you can’t tell him that he is wrong?” I nodded my head and thought about his words, when a thought crossed my mind. Should I change who I am, so that I don’t get treated like this? No, just because that teacher thinks he can tell me that my name doesn’t mean anything, doesn’t mean that I have to