Discrimination In Brave New World

Discrimination.
“Did you see that girl!? What is she wearing on her head?”
“That 's so weird! She 's obviously not from here!”
“Do you think it 's because of her culture? Maybe she just wants attention”
“Why is she wearing a piece of cloth around her head?”

Racism.
“Do you think she 's hiding a bomb under her scarf”
“I heard that their kind were celebrating 9/11. Disgusting.”

Outcast. Different. Weird.

“She 's so quiet. She has, like, no friends”
“She 's always wearing black, is it an emo thing?”

She felt the words swirl around her.
They enveloped her.
Consumed her thoughts till she began to believe them.

Maybe she was weird, different. Maybe when she chose the hijab… she had

Knowing that they thought of her as so, tore her up inside.
But she shook her head,
Cleared her thoughts, and soldiered on.

And she continued.
One month, then two.
Soon enough it became a year
Then a year and a half, that she had dismissed the wandering stares and confused glances.

The hurt was still there.
It had drilled a hole in her heat.
She taught herself not to feel.
To turn her back and ignore.

And so she did.
She buried it all under the surface and continued with her life.

When with her friends she put up facades of laughter, and yet again soldiered on.

One day she walking into her classroom searching for something she lost.
An accompanying companion spoke.
“I think you 're my only Muslim friend”
“I 'm probably the only one here.” she replied, looking down at her feet.
A sharp pang of loneliness sprouted in her chest.
She dismissed the feeling.
Her teacher opened the door.
Stepping into the classroom, The girl scanned the objects strewed wildly about the room.
She could not find what she had come for.
The door shut quietly.
They were suddenly alone,
Her and her teacher, surrounded by quiet.
Suddenly her teacher broke the silence.
“I 'm glad you 're being who you