Oh, where do I start? I have been discriminated against countless of times. I won't be able to talk about all of my experiences, so I will talk about the ones that are still fresh in my mind. Let's start with middle school. I was sitting and having my lunch until one my friends approached me and asked, "Why do you mostly bring veggies to school? Are you Indian, Pakistani, Buddhist or Muslim? I hate Muslims, they are terrorists, all they do is ruin America, my country." At that time he caught me off guard, so I had no response for him. These were supposedly my friends. After talking to my mom, the next day I had lunch with the same kids, but this time I had an answer for them. I told them that, "I am a Muslim, born and raised in America, I hate terrorists as much as they do." Now, let's go to tenth grade. I walked into my Advocacy class, as I approached my desk, a student who already sat down, greeted me by saying, "Hello terrorist!" I lost my cool and used profanity,  he apparently did not like my response and filed a complain to my vice principal. When called to the office, I still did not say why I had used such a language. However when my principal called my mom, she got to hear the reason for my anger. I was called back into the office and told that kid was dealt with by the vice principal. The most recent incident happened in my college Freshman Seminar class when a student approached me and said, "You wear skinny jeans and tank tops, you also have a chain on and one earring, are you gay?" I told him, "I don't wear skinny jeans and I am not gay." I asked him if I acted in a certain way and he said, "No." He just repeated his statement. He was surprised that I was not angry with him or offended by his question, he apologized for offending me and that was it. From all these experiences, what I learned is that the world is full of idiots and that in order to survive, I have to have a thick skin and not get offended by everything people say. I am not saying that this is easy. However, with these experiences with other kids has made me a very strong person. I know that I don't need to justify my religion, race, and the fact that I wear an earring or necklace to anyone. I am my own person, I will do as I please, not what pleases other people. Sometimes I feel like maybe I should carry a sign that says, "Yes I am a Muslim, no I'm not a terrorist and no I am not gay. I just don't have a girlfriend because I chose not to. I would rather focus on my education and be someone."