Autobiographical Reflection Paper

A child needs a lot of affection from their parents and the people in their life to grow up from childhood to maturity. A child is a cheerful, playful being who needs to play and have fun all the time, especially around other kids. A healthy social environment is one where people may communicate freely without facing any type of prejudice, especially when it comes to children. When a society lacks fundamental aspects of equality because of things like racism, it becomes difficult for a community to function coherently and the members of the community have psychological effects. People living in such environments will lack the essential aspects of social life there are limited interactions. People will feel neglected and discriminated in such settings and only try so hard to survive without clashing with one another as there is high tension. Racism is a notorious vice that erodes the basic of humanity in people. It can as well contribute to gender discrimination due to the clashing of different cultures.

We were among the several Hispanic families in the United States back in my childhood. Life has gradually been changing over time as social activities and other related organizations champion for equality and non-discrimination of any kind. We lived in a place where almost every child had blonde hair while mine and that of my two brothers were among the rare human species with black hair in the community. Childhood playing was only fun and interesting when playing from inside our compound. The moment we decided to expand our territories, the fan could slowly turn into tension as furry for nothing reigned. I recall one day, a child from the neighbor exclaiming over a busted balloon, “You see, this is why we are warned against playing with you.” At that instance, I learned that children with black hair which was obviously the Hispanic origin were not supposed to play with white children.

One thing was very clear at that moment. There was a clear rift between my parents and our neighbors. Now I understood why there was always some tension whenever we met to play as parents watched. Some protective forces from within the parents could end our silly games before we could reach the play climax. We kept playing amongst ourselves up to teenage when nothing seemed to change. The saddest part came when I could completely be kept off from playing with my brothers because of being a girl. I kept wondering what could have changed all of a sudden for me to get excluded most of the time even when I didn’t anyone else to play with. As per the writing of Staceyann, we had crossed the other side paradise where I could not mingle freely with my brothers whom we had grown up together without prejudice.

It can be okay to say that people with different genders have different roles to play in the society, but gender discrimination that deprives other people some sense of happiness is very inhuman and not acceptable. Sisters and brothers need to keep together with similar aspects that bond them together. All people despite their race or gender are equal. It was the worst experience that I have ever had. Today I feel like I should have opened up to my parents and keep telling that it was their role to keep the brotherhood and sisterhood. I could use my precious time to try to explain to people who adored gender and racial discrimination to help them understand why they need to tolerate one another. I could not treat hatred with another hatred but instead offer love for it.







Works Cited

Chin, Staceyann. The other side of Paradise: A Memoir. Simon and Schuster, 2009.