Unique is a word that can mean a million different things. In my case, I am using the word unique to describe myself and explain how I am different from other people. My mom is blonde with blue eyes and born in Minnesota, and my father was born in Morocco in North Africa. How exactly does the disparity of cultures between my parents shape me? This has shaped my experience growing up in the US and shaped the rest of my life for years to come.

I am the kind of person to never discriminate other people’s religions and I’d like to think that I will never question people’s beliefs. When I was about in 1 st grade my mom asked me “Are you ready to take classes for your first communion?” I, of course, ignored what my mom was saying, but this was a common practice as I often ignore my mom like when watching Finding Nemo- I preferred no distractions. But for some reason, this time I really did wonder why she has asked me this peculiar question with words I have never heard before. Being a first grader, I researched what this meant through the computer (yes not an IPhone we haven’t gotten to that time yet) with my big brown curious eyes searching like a starving tiger for prey. I stumbled
upon this having to do with my church, which my mom has taken me to ever since I can
remember. With being so young, this was when I realized that I would be participating in
Christianity and Islam. My dad is Muslim and practices Islam. With every religion comes special
ideals. In this religion, eating pork is a strict rule. With being so young, I decided to take part in both Christianity and Islam. For example, we can all think of those times of when you are worried about what people will think of you and you play the conversation over and over in your
head thinking about what you will say. Now, of course, my next little story isn’t that big of a
deal, it helped shape me to new values I discovered. Whenever I would eat at a pizza restaurant
with the aroma of the cheese and the big brick oven with the rustic decorations all around the
room, it came with the obvious choice of choosing what type of pizza you will order whether it is
pepperoni or cheese. As I respond to the waiter, every time I respond with “cheese please I can’t
eat pepperoni”. “Why?” my friends would always ask, and my answer was every time “it’s my
dad’s religion.” I didn’t know what this meant only being a 1 st grader. Now as time goes on, I am
proud to say that having two parents of different religions has given me a valuable perspective on
religion- in this case, Christianity and Islam. These were my first interactions with what it is like
to have parents of different ethnicities, but as I started to grow up older and older, I experienced
even more interactions that shaped me.

Not only has this shaped my view on religion, but as well as my vision of the world
(Europe/Morocco) as well as resulting in many wonderful opportunities. Now as I have started to
grow older such as 5 th grade and up, my old curious 1 st grader mind is wanting to take action
about these curious thoughts. When I was in 5 th grade I was blessed with the opportunity to travel
in Morocco and in Europe for the first time. When arrived in Morocco I could smell the sandy
and salty air, and the aroma of good authentic cooking with beautiful and old architecture on the
beach. I was thinking to myself, “could my life be any better right now?” Just imagine… that
uncomfortable feeling of sand sticking to your feet after just washing your feet off in the ocean,
the great big scalloped arches all around the city, and great big markets full of colorful
vegetables and women searching for customers to do henna on. Yes, of course, I rode a camel on the beach. When visiting my family, I noticed that they all kind of look more like me than anyone in my mom’s family. They can be described as average high with a rather pointy nose, curly thick brown hair, and fairly olive skin. I often found myself sitting there in silence. Why was this? The reason behind this is I cannot speak their language! I often thought what they think English sounds like- probably like a bunch of people speaking gibberish. Ever since then, I have become inspired and learned to appreciate the concept of language. Now as a 10 th grader, I take
French 3H and plan to continue onto AP French! Despite this, visiting the streets of Morocco and
other countries made me realize how amazing and beautiful the world is. I specifically remember
my first trip to a foreign country- Morocco. For the first time, I saw poor people on the streets
sitting down with brown cardboard signs, children by their side, and holding out their hand often
singing prayers. I would ask my mom “Mom, what can we do? Why are they sitting on the
ground?” With being a 5 th grader this can be an expected question. The answer was of course that
these people can’t afford homes like back in the US and will accept anything they can get.
Having parents of different cultures has led me to experience foreign things that most people
aren’t able to, and realize the US isn’t the only country here.

Furthermore, I would like to explain what these experiences have led to in my current
life. After telling these stories I am sure that you now realize what being Moroccan and
American has done to my life. I have a twin brother whom I love very much despite the obvious
fights of “I’m better at this than you! And well I can do this better than you!” My brother now
lives in Spain playing soccer there. Many of my friends couldn’t even comprehend that or even
imagine what it would be like for them if they lived there. My background has given me the
opportunity to feel like a very knowledgeable person about the world. Not only did my twin get
this opportunity, but my other brother Noah who is 21 and has a love for Jeopardy and Science, had the opportunity to study at Vanderbilt University. Despite his outstanding grades, I would like to think that my nationality has an effect on getting opportunities. I am able to check “other” on those questions with race. Crazy right? Not only has my parents being of different cultures given me new insight on things, but it has proven to have shaped the kind of person I am today.

Having parents of different cultures and religions had a ginormous lasting effect on not
only me but my whole entire family. Not only has it given me new insights and values, but it has
encouraged me to help even more people learn to appreciate other people’s culture and to not
discriminate. From stories of being a 1 st grader to a 5 th grader, to now, it has caused a lasting
effect for many more years to come.