Day One Homework

It’s an upsetting conundrum that so many of us feel that our individuality and uniqueness invite a feeling of negativity rather than pridefulness. After watching and reading these two pieces, I fully agree and understand exactly this predicament. Sometimes the things that glorify and celebrate us, for example, our ethnicity, cultural background, or our names, start to appear like the culprit of our self-worth and identity. My name is Salomee Khawja. Khawja is a Persian surname/title and comes from the Iranian word khwāja. This simple word depicts my ethnicity. While my first name is Salomee of Hebrew origin which comes from Shlomi meaning “my peace”. I may love the uniqueness of the name today, but a while ago that wasn’t the case. Ever since my parents named me Salomee, there was always negativity surrounding it. For example, when I was about three years old and my mother introduced me to our extended family, many of my aunts and uncle were surprised to hear such a name. Some of them laughed and compared it to sounding like salami. Moreover, similar occurrences like this happened to me in school. Kids would often make fun of how I looked, how my parents looked, and how my name was so strange. At times like this, I felt unwanted and lonely. I remember wanting a more common name because, with time, I started viewing my name as a burden. Soon, I stopped correcting people with how they pronounced my name. Although it’s pronounced “Sah-low-mee”, people would pronounce it all sorts of ways given that it wasn’t a common name. Afterward, “Sah-low-mai” became my identity and even I addressed myself that way only to avoid embarrassment or confusion. I don’t recall when it was that I started to grow love and fondness for my name, but I remember telling myself that disowning my name would be a huge injustice to me. My name represents me, my background, and my family. All the things that hold so much importance to me.