Untitled (Looking Beyond Appearance)

Untitled (Looking Beyond Appearance)

Student: Tasneem Taha    Language: English    Country: Jordan
School / Organization: Squash Dreamers (NGO)    Grade: Grade 12    Word count: 614

Can we really know a person just by looking at them? Can their clothes tell us who they are, how they treat others? Appearance is often the first thing we notice when we meet someone, but it is only a small part of who they are. We can see what a person wears, but not their thoughts, feelings, or dreams. This is why I believe we shouldn’t judge people by their appearance before taking time to know them.

This is the change I want to see in the world: a world where we stop judging people by how they look and give them a chance to show who they really are.

Clothes can make people put others into groups. If someone dresses differently, they may think that person is strange. If someone cares about their appearance, they may think that person is proud. But we don’t know the reason behind someone’s clothes. Their choices may come from their culture, values, comfort, money, or simply their style. The picture we create may be different from who they really are.

As a girl who wears the niqab, I understand this problem from my own experience. Sometimes, people may look at my niqab before they look at me. They may think that I am too strict, limited, or different without talking to me. They may judge my personality before knowing how I think. It can feel like they see what I wear before they see who I am. This makes me think: How many people do we judge because of their appearance, while there is a whole person behind it that we never tried to know?

That is why I believe changing this starts with something simple: giving people a chance. Instead of deciding who someone is, we should know them through their words, actions, and how they treat others. Before judging, we can ask: Do I really know this person, or am I only judging them because of how they look?

For me, giving people a chance also means giving myself a chance to be seen for who I truly am. I don’t want my clothes to become an obstacle between me and my dreams. I want to prove that what I wear doesn’t decide what I can achieve. My appearance is only one part of me; it doesn’t define my abilities, goals, or future.

One of my biggest dreams is to travel to Britain and study Artificial Intelligence. I want to develop my skills and create technologies that can make people’s lives better. I am not waiting for the future to begin; I am starting now, step by step.

Squash Dreamers helps me move toward that future by giving me opportunities to learn, improve my skills, and gain experience. I want to improve my English and writing so I can communicate with different cultures, study in Britain, and share my ideas with the world.

Most importantly, I don’t want my success to be only for myself. I want to use my knowledge and skills to help others and make a difference. I want to make my family proud because they have always supported me and my journey.

In the end, I don’t want a world where differences become judgments. I want people to look beyond clothes, colors, styles, and first impressions, and give each other a chance to be known. I want to live in a world where my clothes don’t decide my future, other people’s opinions don’t stop my dreams, and I can be myself. Because in the end, we are much more than what people can see from the outside. We are our thoughts, our actions, our dreams, and the choices we make.