Day 20 : Earliest Childhood Memory

Who remembers their first tragedy? their first love? their first happiness? their first unfairness? Among all the happiest thing I remember, one of the earliest thing that I could remember is my very first unfairness.

As a background, I have lost pretty great deal of my memories but somehow this particular experience perfectly recorded into my brain. So to do this blogging challenge, I am going to narrate based on what my memory recorded.

Earliest Childhood Memory

It was a hot day during summer. My mother clothed me with my favorite red suspenders paired with white top. She even prepared my winnie the pooh bag where she put my bottle and diapers. That time, I was around four to five. She held me in her arms and we were riding on an ambulance. Next thing I remember was we were on a public hall with several other children and their mother. I saw in front of me some interesting cube toys and other things I could play, which I think was dumb that time. My mom tried to get me into playing it but I was like "uh huh, no". It really was different than toys I had at home.

There I was, sitting at the hall and was asked several simple questions. My parents name, whether if I can sing, write and recite the country's motto, she even asked me who is the current president, where I live,etc. Apparently, I was in a competition held by healthcare center organization. I had no idea what kind of competition was that. Now, that I think about it sounded dumb. It was one of this competition " Who has the smartest baby?" or something of that nature.

All I could remember was, I was sent back home on an ambulance. Then, my mom talked to this old lady whom I found later was a psychologist. Me being me, just ran to my grandparents who were behind the cashier counter.

Years after when I was around 9, I was told what happened. So basically I got second place in that competition. I was supposed to be the first but because my mom held an accounting degree, I was dropped to the 2nd place as I competed with children whose mother was only having a high school degree. As an adult, I still think a lot about it.

I was raised to see that we can achieve success if we work hard. So, parents background, history, income, etc don't matter at all. I was told to stand on my ground, treat everyone equally regardless their background and returning back how others treat me. To my young mind, it was something I hold on dearly. But as I navigate myself through life, it becomes apparent that often meritocracy doesn't exist. All of sudden, you are seen through your background instead who you truly are, that my skin color matters, my parents income matters, my parents past matter and that my gender matters. I don't subscribe to that but that's just the world we live in today.

If you want to join this 30 Days blogging with me, feel free to do so ! I'd be happy to have other hivers doing this with me.