A Different Hurdle
It was a chilly windy in September. It started out as a normal day. I went to school and my day was as usual. After school I went home and got ready for a soccer game.
On my way to the game I was trying to relax and not worry about the game and keep my mind off the stress. As I arrived at my game and walked over to the field. I went up to the coach and said hi to him. He told me to go with the other team to get warmed up and strech before the game.
Right before kickoff, my coach called me up and said, “Prit, Go on! You’re starting!”
I was happy and ran out to the field like the happiest boy alive. I got to my position and was prepared for kickoff. The ref called over my teamate who was our captain. He asked if he wanted heads or tails and my teammate replied heads. The ref flipped the coin and it landed tails. We had to start with the ball and my team mate kicked the ball at me.
The ref looked at my hand and stopped the game. He said what is that on my hand.
I looked down and saw that I had mulitple tied braclets on my hand. “Oh these. They are rakhi or a braclet. In the Hindu tradition of Rakshabandhan, sisters tie a sacred thread to the brothers hand and it symbolizes the brother protecting his sister throughout her life, and the sister’s prayers and protection and wellbeing of her brother.”
The referee replied, “I don’t care. I need you to cut that off or get out of the soccer field as it can hurt someone.”
“Whats going on?” my coach asked.
At this point I was upset and didnt like how I had to sit out. The referee explained everything to my coach who was just staring at me. I felt kind of scared and embarrassed beacuse all my teammates had no clue why the ref stopped the game and were starting to get impatient.
After what seemed to be forever my coach came up to me and asked, “Can you cut those?”
“No, I cannot cut these as they are a part of my tradition and I cannot get rid of them just for a soccer referee,” I replied with confidence.
After that my coach made me sit out for the whole game. After the match my mom asked “Why didn’t you play?”
I responded saying “It was either I didn’t play or I had to cut my rakhi’s.”
My mom looked down at my hand and say the rakhis and said, “Son, Im proud of you.”
