Being in a multicultural society, it is important that one learns to respect another person's culture.
I recall an account in Secondary 4 when my friends and I were playing a game which poked fun at the culture of a Sikh to keep long hair and thus, wear a turban. At that time, this "game" was played when somebody spotted a Sikh wearing a turban. The person who spotted the Sikh wearing the turban would pinch somebody else's arm until the person mentioned the correct colour of the turban the Sikh was wearing.
One day, my friends and I were walking along a footpath that was adjacent to the road towards the bus stop after school. On the way to the bus stop, one of my friends John (fictitious name) pinched Sam (another fictitious name) on his arm and at the same time exclaiming, "Singh colour apa, singh colour apa?" (colour apa means what colour in malay).
To our horror, the Sikh who was riding a scooter (well, it was easy to spot because Sikhs do not wear helmets when riding motorcycles or scooters), parked his scooter by the road and marched angrily towards us. Needless to say, he scolded us and with expletives even. The Sikh shouted angrily, "You all are f**king disrespectful. So just because we Sikhs wear a turban and we're supposed to be made fun of? If I ever hear such things again, I'll report you all to the police!" He also threatened to make a complaint to our principal. Fortunately, we managed to appease him by apologising sincerely and he'd let the matter rest.
At that point of time, we were afraid. After all, he had threatened to make a police report and a complaint to the principal of our school. Looking back, I felt that we were too insensitive towards cultures of other racial groups. From what I saw, the Sikh was defending and protecting something that is considered sacred to them, which was why the Sikh got riled up. It is the Sikhs' culture to not cut their hair, and thus use a turban to wrap their hair up. To us, we may find that the "game" was played out of pure fun and laughter, but to the Sikhs, it was an insult them.
Indeed, after researching online, I found that hair is scared to the Sikhs because they believe that it is a gift from God. Hair is also one of the five articles of faith for the Sikhs. More importantly, a Sikh's hair is the symbol of love for God and the respect that God has given to him. Thus, when we poke fun of a Sikh's turban, we are actually poking fun of their symbol of love for their God.
From then on, after the harsh scolding we were subjected to, we stopped playing this "game" and also advised the rest of our friends to not do it as well.
