A Sikh woman’s
eloquent response to a tasteless post, targeting her facial hair has sparked virtual
applause online.
A photo unknowingly
taken of Ohio State University student Balpreet Kaur, who has sideburns and a
beard, was posted on the website’s “funny” thread, prompting a string of cruel
comments. When the neuroscience student saw them, she added a message of her own.
“Yes, I’m a baptized
Sikh woman with facial hair,” Kaur wrote. “Yes, I realize that my gender is often confused
and I look different than most women. However, baptized Sikhs believe in the
sacredness of this body — it is a gift that has been given to us by the Divine
Being (which is genderless, actually) and, must keep it intact as a submission
to the divine will.”
Kaur continued to
school callous commenters on her religion, explaining that she wasn’t upset or
offended — if anyone wanted a photo, “they could have just asked and I could
have smiled.”
“To me, my face isn’t
important but the smile and the happiness that lie behind the face are,” she
wrote. “So, if anyone sees me at OSU, please come up and say hello.”
Kaur explained that
when she dies, “no one is going to remember what I looked like.”
“However, my impact
and legacy will remain: and, by not focusing on the physical beauty, I have time
to cultivate those inner virtues and hopefully, focus my life on creating
chance and progress for this world in any way I can.”
