Home > Magazine > ChaiTime > Good Sports: A WOMAN OF PRINCIPLE

 

Good Sports: A WOMAN OF PRINCIPLE

Compiled/partly written by Melvin Durai Email Compiled/partly written by Melvin Durai
November 2012
Good Sports: A WOMAN OF PRINCIPLE

You don’t have to be Sikh to admire Balpreet Kaur, a woman of principle and fortitude. Kaur, a student at Ohio State University, was waiting in line at the university library when someone took a photo of her without her permission and posted it on the social news website Reddit to ridicule her facial hair. Many nasty comments on her appearance followed. After a friend tipped her off, Kaur decided to respond.

“Hey, guys. This is Balpreet Kaur, the girl from the picture,” she wrote. “... I’m not embarrassed or even humiliated by the attention [negative and positive] that this picture is getting because, it’s who I am. Yes, I’m a baptized Sikh woman with facial hair. Yes, I realize that my gender is often confused and I look different than most women. However, baptized Sikhs believe in the sacredness of this body—it is a gift that has been given to us by the Divine Being [which is genderless, actually] and, must keep it intact as a submission to the divine will. ... When I die, no one is going to remember what I looked like, heck, my kids will forget my voice, and slowly, all physical memory will fade away. However, my impact and legacy will remain: and, by not focusing on the physical beauty, I have time to cultivate those inner virtues and hopefully, focus my life on creating change and progress for this world in any way I can.”

Her response touched and inspired many people on the internet and even prompted the original poster to apologize on Reddit: “It was an incredibly rude, judgmental, and ignorant thing to post....Balpreet, I’m sorry for being a closed minded individual. You are a much better person than I am.”

And a much stronger person than almost all of us.

 


Enjoyed reading Khabar magazine? Subscribe to Khabar and get a full digital copy of this Indian-American community magazine.


  • Add to Twitter
  • Add to Facebook
  • Add to Technorati
  • Add to Slashdot
  • Add to Stumbleupon
  • Add to Furl
  • Add to Blinklist
  • Add to Delicious
  • Add to Newsvine
  • Add to Reddit
  • Add to Digg
  • Add to Fark
blog comments powered by Disqus

Back to articles

 

DIGITAL ISSUE 

03_24-Cover-NMACC-W.jpg

 

eKhabar

Sign up for our weekly newsletter
eKhabar

        

Potomac_wavesmedia Banner ad.png 

TrophyPoint-Webads-200x200-4.jpg

  NRSPAY_Khabar-Website_2x2_Ad.gif

Krishnan Co WebBanner.jpg

Raj&Patel-CPA-Web-Banner.jpg

Embassy Bank_gif.gif 

MedRates-Banner-11-23.jpg

DineshMehta-CPA-Banner-0813.jpg