Abdiel Tabuzo

Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates

Tolerance

One night, a child was born into a different land, far away from his parent’s homeland. He grew up beloved by his parents and family. In the foreign land, he needed to blend in. He went to a school where Arab students were the majority of the student body. He never knew what they talked about or told him. Many took advantage of his uniqueness and bullied him out of oblivion. It got worse and thus, he moved out and found his community. There, he was able to grow and feel free without the prejudice of anyone. Despite his dreadful interaction, he never developed hatred or preconceived notions about anyone, including the students who had bullied him. He was not the only one who lived in a land distinct from his parents’ motherland. He then experienced South Asian cuisine, the music of the Americans, the laughter of his kind, Filipinos, the strict etiquette of the Koreans and Japanese, the festivity of Latin Americans, and finally, the honorable quality of the local Arabs, which gave him a perception of the world like no other.