An internet user calling himself “european_douchebag” snapped and posted this picture online for laughs:
The subject of
the feeding frenzy that ensued responded to the attention her appearance
elicited by offering these insights into her embodiment of faith:
"Hey, guys. This is Balpreet Kaur, the girl from the picture. I actually
didn’t know about this until one of my friends told me on Facebook. If the photographer wanted a picture, they could have just asked and I could have smiled! However, 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. Just as a child doesn’t reject the gift of his/her parents,
Sikhs do not reject the body that has been given to us. By crying
‘mine, mine’ and changing this body-tool, we are essentially living in
ego and creating a separateness between ourselves and the divinity
within us. By transcending societal views of beauty, I believe that I
can focus more on my actions. My attitude and thoughts and actions have
more value in them than my body because I recognize that this body is
just going to become ash in the end, so why fuss about it? 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. So, to me, my face isn’t important but the smile and
the happiness that lie behind the face are. So, if anyone sees me at Oregon State University, please come up and say hello. I
appreciate all of the comments here, both positive and less positive
because I’ve gotten a better understanding of myself and others from
this. Also, the yoga pants are quite comfortable and the Better Together
t-shirt is actually from Interfaith Youth Core, an organization that
focuses on storytelling and engagement between different faiths. I hope this explains everything a bit more, and I apologize for causing such confusion and uttering anything that hurt anyone."
