By Sukhbinder Kaur (age 17)
The biggest problem we face as Sikhs in a nonSikh society is their ignorance about the Sikh faith and the Sikh uniform. This ignorance of the religion is the stern of all the other problems we face. Our main concern, as the next generation, is to try to curb this ignorance by, firstly, being knowledgeable ourselves about our faith and, then, by being a responsible Sikh. This means that we ourselves, must adhere to the Sikh principles in order for society to see what Sikhs sincerely are. This responsibility lies on all of us but especially on the youth.
One problem I personally face in this society is the difficulty my peers at school have about my religion, specifically why I wear a kirpan and a scarf. Though they aren’t prejudiced about it, they can’t understand that it is a vital part of my identity, and my spirituality. It is vital to my identity as the kirpan is one of the five symbols given tous by our tenth Guru, Guru Gobind Singh. Without it, my identity as a part of the Khalsa is incomplete. A Khalsa without all five symbols is a nonentity.
Both of these, the kirpan and scarf, are also vital to my spirituality. This is so because as mentioned above, they are a part of my identity; however, there is another reason. Besides being an outer symbol of identity the Kirpan is also the cause of inner strength for me that I have a responsibility to live as a Khalsa, as well as the Responsibility to be knowledgeable of my faith and to be able to inform others about my faith. The covering of my head with, in my case, a scarf reminds me that, as a Sikh, Jam to live humbly, I am to believe in the equality of the whole humanity and to live by that belief. Covering my head symbolizes my respect to humanity as well as my belief in equality. After giving these explanations, my peers are more knowledgeable about my faith but are still in need of further explanations.
The Sikh youth of today are in desperate need of education and training in their religion if the West is to understand our faith or, more importantly, if they, themselves are to understand it. Once this understanding is reached, the West will be more capable of relating to our religion, and the conflicts that seem to exist in the clash of our two cultures will be able to be resolved. Not only will we ourselves gain from this, but our future generations will also be able to live in harmony with all the other religions in this multicultural and multifarious society.
Article extracted from this publication >> August 11, 1989
