Breaking Barriers (GxG) [Completed]

Stereotypical

Stereotyping, everyone does it. Asians are good at math, all dark-skinned people are athletic, man don't cry, woman aren't as good as man, all Arabs and Muslims are terrorist, so on so forth. I think you catch my drift.

I can't say that I haven't done it, everyone does. Sometimes you see a person and you just can't help but put them in a certain box. It's an unconscious thing, but if you act on what you think, before really thinking about it, you're at fault.

Boyyy have I been at fault.

For example; you walk into a bus. Every seat is taken but one. There is an old lady sitting next to the free seat. You'll take it, right?

Now the old lady needs to get up because the bus just arrived at her stop. You get up and let her out. The bus continues and you take the seat next to the window. At the next stop, 4 men walk in.

A white man in a suit, a Muslim in a suit and a man of colour and an Asian man in a suit. A lot of people will instantly hope that the person, closest to what they've been brought up with, takes a seat next to them.

I blame the media for this stereotypical problem. Muslims are made out to be the terrorist, for a long time Asians were the smart dorky type on tv, the person of colour was usually made fun off while the white person was usually praised.

This also happens with sexuality, a feminine man is gay and a masculine woman is lesbian. But this is not always the case!

As for me, well I thought something because that's what I've learned from all the movies I've seen. I never came in contact with the real thing and this project has really opened my eyes.

♤♤♤

"Okay, so we need to write down all the things we know about the country before we do research," I say after I'm done reading through our assignment.

"Why didn't you pick the Netherlands?" Hayley says for the umpteenth time. "I mean everyone hates Germany."

I shake my head at her. "Hayls, I chose Germany for exactly this reason, people need to see that we aren't in 1944 anymore. Things change. Besides, it wouldn't be fun for me to research the country I've been born. I know too much about it already."

We are currently sitting on my bed in the basement, working on the project our history teacher, Mr Kuntz had given us. I reposition myself, I stretch my legs and lay with my back against a pillow, which was resting against the headrest of my bed.

I pull my laptop on my lap and start to type the things, I know, about Germany. After a few minutes, I feel Hayley move and sit next to me on the bed. I try to continue, but her staring start to make me uncomfortable. It always seems she is trying to see through me like I'm some sort of puzzle she needs to put together.

"Are you done with the list yet?" I ask while keeping my eyes on the screen. I can hear her sigh before she moves a little closer. She lays her head on my shoulders, which makes tense up a little from the sudden contact. I glance down to see her with a smile on her face and her eyes closed. She looks so peaceful at this moment, it makes me relax a little.

"To be completely honest with you." She says softly while she starts playing with a strand of my hair. "I don't know anything about Germany."

"How do you not know anything about Germany?" I ask a little perplexed. I mean everyone knows about world war I and II. On the internet people make fun of Germans all the time, they say that Germans don't have a sense of humour or they make fun of their language. Everyone knows at least something about it, right?

"Well, I was never really good at history, so it never interested me." She stops playing with my hair and starts to move her finger up and down my arm. I close my eyes as she traces patterns on my arm. I instantly forget that we were trying to work on our assignment and get lost in the warmth her soft touch was creating.