"Don’t feel embarrassed to like what you love to do, be with people you enjoy to be around, or to appreciate your culture and heritage, because that’s what makes you so special and you don’t need to prove anyone but yourself."

In elementary school, I would always bring the Japanese lunch boxes (bento boxes) filled with home-made Japanese food my mom would always make me. I’d always felt a bit awkward and wasn’t really open to showing it to people, but one day, in 5th grade, my worst nightmare became reality. I was as usual, eating my bento sort-of secretively, and this day, I had Japanese curry. This is when my classmate walks by, stops to stare, and publicly shouts out, “ew, what are you eating?” My stomach dropped. I felt stuck, unsure what to say, how to react, and rather than anger, I felt sadness and a sense of shame. I was lucky enough for one of my close friends to clap back at him, but after that, I couldn’t shake off the feeling of embarrassment whenever I opened my bento box. I considered requesting to bring sandwiches and non-foreign looking menus, but I felt too bad for my mom who had always woken up early in the morning to make these lunches for me. I remember going as far as to throwing my lunch in the trash really fast in the cafeteria, and when I did eat it, covering my lunch with both my arms and eating it so fast I would get a stomach ache every time. The interaction with the classmate may have left a negative impact on me, but I can say it has done some good too, in the sense that I eventually came to the realization that it was simply because he was uneducated. Of course, that doesn’t excuse his behavior, even if he didn’t have malicious intent behind it. But I do now see the importance of first, approaching their differences with respect, compassion, and curiosity, even if you don’t agree or truly understand someone’s background or culture.