When I was in middle school, a VIP was visiting our school, and a few students had to welcome them with bouquets. Our class teacher picked me along with a handful of others, and we were all sent downstairs to wait. A few minutes later, one of the organizers looked at us and told me to go back to class.
As I walked back up the stairs, I heard him say, “Just these two pretty girls are enough to welcome the VIP.”
That sentence stayed with the child in me. For a while, it made me wonder if I wasn’t pretty enough. Whether my dark skin somehow made me less worthy of being seen.
There were insecurities through school, of course. But over time, I found confidence in my curiosity, and academics. Only when in college did I embrace my feminine side and start loving my own brown skin. Beauty was never something that needed validation from other people. It certainly had nothing to do with skin colour.
Years later, life came full circle.
I entered public service and became a Municipal Commissioner. That same VIP later entered politics and became a Minister. And one day, we found ourselves sitting at the same table, discussing policy and public issues, as equals.
And I remember thinking about that little girl walking back up those stairs.
Life has its own fascinating ways.
Sometimes it doesn’t give you justice in the moment. Sometimes it doesn’t even explain itself. But it has a way of bringing things back around.
So if you’re feeling small, overlooked, rejected, or hurt today, don’t let that moment define you.
The world may fail to see your worth for a while. But life won’t.
And what is meant for you can never be taken away by someone else’s limited perception of you.
So, next time you think of calling somebody too brown, fat, ugly, especially a child… come sit across the table with me.
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