When it comes to skin color and race, I have been in the majority my whole life. Living in Birmingham, in a wealthy suburb, I was just another white girl. No one looked twice at me for being different in any way. Since living in South Africa, I now know what it feels like to be in the minority. I know what it feels like to be distinctly different from everyone else, everywhere I go. I get stared at wherever I go (except my school, they are used to my difference). In church I stick out like a sore thumb, being the only white person a congregation of Africans and colored people. When I am walking through the grocery store or a shopping mall, people stare and even make comments to me. Don't get me wrong, I in no way take it offensively or personally. Most of the time no one is being ugly or intentionally rude. It’s just hard for them not to notice that I'm different.
Being in the minority has been quite humbling. It's not easy sticking out like a sore thumb, all the time. You don't get used to people always staring at you. But I have learned to respect their social norms and to try my best to participate and fit into their community so that I become part of the whole, not just the eye sore.
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