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It takes courage to do what he is doing. I don’t think I had the remotest clue of how to solve problems of this magnitude when I was his age. Did I even have any idea of the issues around me? I don’t think anything else mattered to me but my petty teenage problems. I cannot imagine standing in front of hundreds of peers and grownups in a foreign country, showcasing my work that points to an unfair law of their land that affects my people, all in their language. Why would anybody invite me to point out flaws in their system? Even if that happened by a fluke, why would people care for what I have to say? Is it even possible? From his track record, and being a witness to what he has done in the past, the odds are that he will do it again. He has won many hearts across the globe when his peers have already broken some. The French will be no exception. It’s Thanksgiving evening here in the United States. Our home is quiet without the boy. My body is here, but the mind is in the port city of Nantes, France, that I have only seen in the many picture books the young French boys have brought over the last few years as a souvenir from their hometown. It is the French premiere of "(Ex)Changed", Angad’s third and last documentary out of our little home in Atlanta, Georgia, U.S.A. Next year he flies out of the nest to go to college. He has been invited by this school in France to show the film, talk about American culture and his life as a Sikh-American for a week long visit. He will be presenting his work of two years to his “target audience” in the school theatre, at an event that is much anticipated and planned for months. The documentary is for anyone interested in other cultures but specifically speaks to the French teens that are studying American Culture in schools. Hundreds of students, their parents and the staff of this reputed private school will see what this American kid has to say. Post screening, he will go up the stage and answer questions. It will be the first time most of them will see a young Sikh man. How will they react to him and his work? What will they ask? How shall he respond? What message will they take home? Will they see a change in their hearts? Will they think of Angad and his message when they are the ones making policies on who is allowed the right to education and other civil liberties while others are punished for following their religion? Will some be offended and rude? How will he react? It also takes love, dedication and genuine care for his fellow beings to do what he does. My thoughts race to three years ago when Martin, our first French exchange student left after his stay with us. “He cried most of the way to the airport and it took us a lo-o-ong time to get there”, Angad’s French teacher called me as she rode back in the empty school bus which had just dropped the 32 exchange students and their teachers. “None of the other boys cried … there were a couple of other girls who were a mess.” An hour earlier he was doing a fine job smiling and saying good bye to the new American friends he had made. Angad was doing equally well, hiding behind his camera the whole time, filming the departure; but when he went up the bus to give Martin one last hug, along with his loud M-A-R-T-I-N hail in his French-Punjabi accent; Martin had broken down. When we first saw Martin at the airport just two weeks prior; we had no clue that when he would depart he would take a piece of our heart with him. He was a little wary at first for we were not the typical American home he had expected to be - I was a single parent, Angad wore a turban, we ate vegetarian food that was spicy and, with our super busy lifestyles, our home was always a mess. Thankfully, love transcends everything and all of that didn’t matter to Martin. At the end of the two weeks he was one of us. He loved my cooking and was glued to Angad. He visited the gurdwara with us in traditional Sikh garb that he himself asked for when he saw Angad dress up. He sat cross-legged on the floor for the full two and a half hours and thanked us for a once-in-a-lifetime experience. It also takes farsightedness. Backtrack 3 more years. “Spanish is the second language in our country; every other person in the South speaks it. You should learn it. Besides, what’s the point in learning French? They don’t even allow Sikh school boys your age to go to school - why bother with their language and culture?” “Exactly that’s why, Mom!” replied my seventh grader - who at age 13 had declared that he was going to study French as the world language of his choice for as long as he could.  Just five years later, he would have hosted three French students at our home (one more on the way), visited France three times, made hundreds of French friends and educated a whole bunch of them on who Sikhs are, what is their connection to France and why they should consider the flavor of secularism that is based on respect of religion and cultures as we have here in North America.And I hope this is just the beginning. I have learnt a lot from this boy. He teaches us that ignorance causes fear and fear causes people to make irrational decisions including hatred. So what do you do when you are subject to such hatred? Tackle ignorance by education. How do you do that when the minds are closed to education?  With friendship and patience.He tells his audience that relationships between people are like double doors, each opening from either side. If someone shuts their side and you shut yours, the relationship is over. If you keep your side open, perhaps some day, the other person will see you in true light and may just open his/her side. A very important thing that he teaches us is the way one should react to a challenge. He teaches us to consider a challenge as an opportunity. To outwit the challenger by responding to it with compassion and construction, not anger and destruction. But the real reason he has made a difference is that this boy walks his talk. I say that as a silent observer, not as his mother. I wish I could be like him at some point in this lifetime. To read more about (Ex)Changed, please CLICK here. |