My ancestors came from a wide range of cultural background – Filipino, Spanish, and Chinese; hence my skin color. “Tisay” is a Filipino word which translates as fair-skinned. Being fair-skinned in a country dominated by brown people is not always a walk in the clouds.
During my younger years, I got teased because I was so white and pale. I became jealous of my friends who were brown-skinned. They seemed to easily fit in the crowd. But as the years went by, I matured and got accustomed to what the Creator has endowed me.
I leaned that I was never born to fit in but rather to stand out in a pool of brown-skinned people. It was in college when I started to embrace who I was. I never again thought about envying dark-skinned people. I was happy and content with my skin color.
It was back in 1996 that I got mocked, fast-forward to the present 2011; more people are now aiming to have fair skin. Reason why numerous whitening products are out in the market. As for me, they are not necessary anymore. Lately, people have been complementing my skin color. Telling me how they wanted to be as fair as I am. If only they knew, how I wanted to be just like them before.
I am not racist but others think that dark-skinned individuals are always discriminated, white-skinned people get that too. That’s just the way life is. It works both ways and most of the time it’s unfair.
And that’s how I got the name TISAY. I am white and loving it!
