I have to admit that I can't really stand up and say I understand. As a WASP looking person in a WASP world, I am not judged on my skin colour or ethnicity. I do know what it is like to try to conform however. As a kid I bounced backwards and forwards between New Zealand and Australia, two countries which love to hate each other. I grew very adept at losing my accent, picking up the current fashions and dropping words that weren't used in each country.

In many ways I am so grateful for my upbringing. My father is an atheist, my mother and step-father were Baha'is when I was growing up and my mother's family are all Irish Catholic. My closest friends in high school were usually the other outcasts, Fijian Indians, Sri Lankans, Iranians and Chineses from Malaysia, Hong Kong and Taiwan. I'd hate to think what I might be like if I hadn't been immerse in so many different cultures and so many different religious beliefs for the majority of my life. These days I am the voice arguing in class against common misconceptions of Islam (and Hinduism at times), I'm always the one wanting to make friends with people from other cultures if only to learn more of what I don't know about the world and its peoples.

I wish everyone could have their eyes opened at such a young age and learn that even without assimilation people can live together and find common ground