This I Believe

I believe that all races not only come in different color; but also in different shapes and sizes. Everyone thought that I was short because I am Chinese. Similarly, many people have the notion that Americans must be tall.

Back in Singapore when I was in kindergarten, I was considered as an average height student. You could probably say that I was one of the tallest in my class, but I was WAY skinnier than the other students. When I moved to Sydney, I was a dwarf in the school. I must say Australian kids are really big and tall. Even my mom was getting worried that I did not inherit the Shanghainese gene. Well, Shanghainese being closer to the north of China are supposed to be taller than southern chinese. So my parents thought I could have inherited the inferior gene.

When I moved to Kuala Lumpur and started grade 1 at ISKL, I was not that dwarf like anymore. ISKL being an international school with students from all around the world, showed me that westerners are not really as tall as I had thought them to be. I remembered my first day at ISKL, I was really excited to make new friends with different people with different nationalities. But it didn't go as I thought. Many of the kids looked down at me due to my height. In ISKL, most of the students were at least half a head taller than me. I was the same height as a prep junior! Not only was I just short, but I didn't show much talent for anything, especially when I joined the basketball team. No one would pass to me because I couldn't shoot, pass or dribble the ball. On the following year in second grade not much had changed. But at least everyone excepted me more than in first grade.

It was only in my third grade that I started to shoot up. After my summer holiday, I was actually taller than most of the students who used to be much taller than me. Not only that, when I joined the basketball team again more people started passing the ball to me. Because I kept getting the ball, I was able to see what I was really capable of. I became one of the top players in the whole of grade three. Practically everyone changed the way they thought about most Chinese people; especially about height.

I used to think that I was short because I was Chinese. At least that was what my friends made me think. But now I realized even people from Holland can be short although they are famous for being tall. Now in 7th grade, I am considered tall in school. Thus I believe that we should not stereotype someone because of their race. This I believe.