The Lone Edward and Kid Fistfight at School

There I was, standing around this pole outside my school, waiting for the bus to take me home. It was just like any other day of 1st grade: heading to school in the morning, making all the kids laugh, and leaving the place that I owned with an iron fist. But on this day, there was a slight change to my schedule; this guy in the 2nd grade came up to me. He called me Chinese and kept pushing at it. I roared, "I'm Korean!", rushed at him, and did what any sensible 1st grader would do. The memory is a bit blurry in my mind, but I do remember biting his arm! The day after, my principal sat both of us down and told me I could not go to the next two recesses. I cried the whole time as I sat in my desk thinking about my cannibalistic attack. It was not a good day to die. It was not a good day to die.

This was my first experience with stereotypes, and it was a pretty dumb one to be mad about. I know that there are many Asians in the world, each with their own characteristics, but we still have the same general look. In addition to that, there are over 1 billion Chinese people in the world! With those numbers, the chances that this Asian is Chinese are pretty plausible. I understand this mistake, Person-I-bit, and I am sorry for the scar that I left you.

As Sherman Alexie gave light to how Indians actually are, I feel the need to do the same with my race. Generally, I had no problems with stereotypes; it actually seems like they're true most of the time. I surrounded myself with the Chinese kids in my grade, and they were the cream of the crop: straight A students, magnificent musicians, and nervous nerds. These are my friends. On the other hand, there is me. I always thought I was the outlier. I never got the highest grade nor was I amazing at the violin. I remember getting last chair, the worst position in Orchestra, in 7th grade. At least I had a likable personality.

I built a standard for myself through the all those Asian stereotypes. I want to be smarter--better. There comes a point though, like Sherman Alexie's experiences, where I shouldn't be defined by a stereotype or the lack of meeting one. People worry too much about how everyone else is doing, and this leads to the generalizations that we all know. The focus should be on ourselves. This simple act to fight the stereotypes will make a bite into this society constructed on generalizations.