That Spinning Girl - A Life Without Prejudice

I remember my first day in 5th grade. I couldn't speak a word of English beyond my limited vocabulary of "hello", "how are you", and "yes/no". Overwhelmed by my new environment, I looked around the school playground during those 20 minutes before school started. Out of nowhere, this beautiful, tall, blonde girl appeared. She was such a ball of energy, it was a bit annoying. She waved at me and boldly said "I'm Ashley. What is your name?". That question sounded familiar…"what. is. your. name", I repeated in my head while quickly trying to translate... I knew that line! "My name is Pascale", I replied. With a huge smile on her face, Ashley briskly stretched out her hands towards me and said "let's play tag ". I must've looked super confused cause she started demonstrating what tag meant. "oh" I thought, "yes, I know this game". But I was more excited about being able to understand what Ashley was saying than about playing...

You see, where I came from, we wore sneakers to school, and the ground was either gravel or grass. My 10-year old self didn't understand why or how we should play tag with these uncomfortable polished shoes on such hard pavement. And why does my school dress feel so short? And why are there boys in this school too? But I gave in at her insistence. But you best believe, Ashley came prepared! Either she was excited about school or she just enjoyed playing. Tag eventually got too easy, so we switched to spinning. And again, she was ready...I wasn't. She spin me around so hard I got crazy dizzy and knew this wasn't gonna end well... I fell.

In that moment I had vivid memories of struggling with motion sickness as a child, so I didn't enjoy spinning games or long drives. Great, now my first day of school begins with a scrapped knee already. But Ashley was helpful. She took me to the staff room where I had a plaster put on my knee. Long story short... Ashley gave me a crash course into my new school environment. She welcomed me to the idea that it will move quickly and sometimes spin you so hard you get dizzy and fall. But even when you fall, you will get back up and your wounds will heal after some time. She showed me about the possibility of a world without prejudice. A world where belonging wasn’t dependent on language, race, or origin. I learned to empathize with people who are new to anything and who may be excluded based on their differences. Because a world without prejudice begins with that one person. On the playground. On the first day at school or work. It begins with you.

#WiseAboutFeels #Noprejudice #TheSchoolSeries #Playground #TheForeignGirl #LifeLessons #BeTheDifference