Being Not the Same As Everyone Is Called, “Being Different”
Last night those great-old-days conversations with my family unlocked a memory in my brain.
A memory that I did not even know existed.
Care to join me as I take a trip down the memory lane?
Picture this…
Young Faryal is calmly sitting in her second-grade classroom as her teacher ends the lesson by asking one final question.
“Okay class, Now tell me what you all want to be in life.”
Everyone raises their hand excited to answer the question*
“Wait! Let me make this easy.” — she exclaims.
“First, who wants to be a doctor? Raise your hand.”
More than half of the hands raised at the speed of lightening, now hang mid-air*
“Great! Now everyone who wants to be an engineer, raise your hands.”
A few hands raise*
“Nice! Now any future army officers amongst us?”
A kid or two raise their hands*
“Any pilots…
Teachers…
Lawyers?”
At this point, every kid has their hand raised except for?
You know it.
Young Faryal!
“Well! It looks like somebody has not decided yet.”
“But who’s in a hurry? You’ve got plenty of time to decide Faryal.” — the teacher reassuringly said.
“Okay now. Moving on…”
She then went on to talk about some less-popular-quite-unheard-of by a typical Pakistani kid stuff like how one can be an artist, chef, fashion designer, etc.
But familiarizing her students with other great occupations didn’t quite work out as most of the kids were busy obsessing over…
Yes, you guessed it.
Doctors and Engineers!
Anyways, as far as I remember there was a reason young Faryal didn’t raise her hand at all.
It’s because she thought to herself,
“They all want to be almost the same thing. I’ll find something else”
Seems like it was her way of protesting against the lack of diversity among her peers.
So, her quest began.
And it did not take long as the very next day the teacher hung a big bright chart on the notice board which said, “Jobs People Do” in big bold red letters.
And…young Faryal got to work.
*She rushed in the direction of the notice board*
*Her eyes hungrily moved from the bottom of the chart all the way up*
*Her brain desperately looked for that one piece of information*
And At Last! She Found It!
*Squinting her eyes, she read*
“It starts with an A.”
“As…As-tro-naut?”
“An Astronaut!”
“This Is What I Want to Be!”
She said as she stared in awe at the man in a funny-looking helmet, standing on what looked like the moon.
That day young Faryal went back home all excited as she finally figured out what she wanted to be, an Astronaut.
Now that I think about it.
It was pretty obvious that I pretty much knew nothing about the profession. But I knew one thing for sure, and that is…
It Was Not the Same As What Her Siblings and Friends Wanted To Be.
It Was Something No One Talked About Around Her.
It Was Unique.
I wasn’t trying to be different from every other kid on purpose.
Being different is confusing anyways.
But I was also not exactly the same as them.
Just like now. The younger me…liked having options.
She was curious.
She loved discovering new things.
And I guess even as a kid…
Conformity Scared Me.
While Uniqueness Attracted Me.
Obviously, I didn’t end up becoming an astronaut.
But I became the next best thing.
Giggles while typing*
A Writer and I Absolutely Love It.
Yet again…I managed to be different than everyone else around me.
So,
*Drum roll*
As Expected, Adult Faryal Is Not So Different from Young Faryal.
And I Am Glad!
Finally,
Last night while reflecting upon this particular memory of mine. I realized something.
It was,
Being Not the Same As Everyone Else Is Called, “Being Different.”
And I Have Always Been Different.
P.S. Even though I can’t participate in the MPP, I’m not gonna let that bring me down. And you know why? Because I have the support of you guys!
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