Sukainah Hasan
Staff Writer
September 5, 2017. When my sister, Kawthar, and I first walked into SLA, people were immediately staring.
One of Kawthar’s friends came up to us and said, “Omg! Are y’all twins?”
“We’re not twins; we’re sisters,” Kawthar said, trying not to get angry with this person.
During the one year, that we overlapped at SLA (2017-18), this happened all the time. Everyone just assumed that we were twins, even though Kawthar is 2 years older than me.
This was not surprising. We’ve heard so many people tell us that we look so much alike. People also assumed that I was the oldest since I was taller than Kawthar.
But there is only one problem; Kawthar and I DO NOT look alike AT ALL.
There are many similarities between Kawthar and me: We have the same parents. We are STILL growing up in the same household because she goes back and forth to college and home. We’re both Muslim. Our favorite color is pink. We take our education very seriously, and we are both very social with people.
However, There are also many differences between Kawthar and me:
- I’m more organized than the Kawthar. For example, when it comes to time management, she has a hard time with that, while it’s opposite for me.
- We have different opinion about certain topics, such as music and who we think is better.
- We have different styles when it comes to clothing: I prefer more colorful clothing, while she sticks with black and navy blue.
- Kawthar is loud, while I’m quieter.
- Have different goals in life. Right now, Kawthar is in majoring in business, and I know that I want to be an executive assistant.
When people didn’t take the time to get to know me on my own, that made me feel annoyed, because people were already “comparing” my sister and me, but didn’t really know who I was, to begin with. I think one of the reasons for this was because we decided to go to the same high school, so people probably think I have the same goals as my sister, but that’s not true.
Overall, even though lots of people might think that we look alike, we’re still two different people who happen to be sisters. We both want two different things in the future, and we deserve to be represented for our individual selves. I love my sister, but I will always argue the fact that WE AREN’T TWINS AND WE DO NOT LOOK ALIKE!
Being compared to my sister was the most challenging thing I had to go through in SLA, because the people, that my sister was close with, represented me as “Kay’s little sister,” instead of representing me as my individual self.
I know I’m not the only student to go through this challenge of getting out from under the shadow of their older sibling. For those of you who are in the same situation: Remember what makes you who you are, because if you allow yourself to be in your sibling shadow, then you will never know what YOU want to do with anything. Also, don’t be afraid to tell people who you are and how you don’t want to be compared to your sibling about everything. Lastly, just be yourself; the more you show your personality, people will tell the difference between yourself and your sibling.
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