When I was 9 years old, they taught me girls should be modest! They shouldn’t laugh out loud! They shouldn’t show their teeth to strangers while laughing and be the instigators of sin!!! They must wear tight Hijab! And only their faces are allowed to be seen! If they want to go to heaven this was the way! The ONLY way!

A 9 years old girl is a MATURE person in eyes of GOD, so I had a Taklif celebration. Something like a Bat mitzvah, the means of worship and prayer, and Hijab were given as gifts, and the heavy responsibilities of being a Muslim fell on me. I was so brainwashed that I thought all these were true!

 When I was 13, I was immersed in this ideology and way of thinking. A 13-year-old girl lived next door to us, always riding a pink bicycle in the alley.

I did not know her in person and I had never talked to her. But I was judging her. The judgment they taught me and I believed in it. I believed that this little girl was a sinner.

Although I was a child, I still feel ashamed of judging that 13-year-old girl back then and I think if I just would have opened my eyes to the truth sooner, things may become better for me and my world sooner.

They indeed say “each generation paves the way for the next generation.”

Although the generation before us left us with nothing but destruction, prejudice, and short-sightedness, regret and sadness, I want to create another way for the generation after me.

For the little girls who look at me as I ride past their father's cars by bicycle.

Girls whose eyes are full of curiosity, confusion, and sometimes unhappiness.

And I consider the girls who ride their bicycles with their fathers as a victory for the next generation.

When I look at them, I feel that our generation may not have been as useless as it may seem and we might actually have taken steps to make the next generation have a better life.