Personal Experience: My Experience At A Sikh Temple

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Samuel Seium. I attended a Sikh temple that is located outside of Baltimore, Maryland with a friend who is Sikh and commonly attends the services. The temple was the size of a regular sized church and appeared to have a common Sikh temple design. Before entering the temple, it is customary to take off your shoes. My friend and I attended this event on a Sundays. Although the temple is open seven days a week, in America it is common for Sunday to be the busiest day at the temple because that is when the major religious group in this country attends their services so the Sikhs at this temple do the same. In the prayer room, we sat on the floor and crossed our legs. There was a person in the front of the room that was leading prayers. However, …show more content…

Overall, I enjoyed the experience of learning more about a new culture and participating in their cultural events. My original fear of being an intruder went away when people would be friendly and introduce themselves to me. I was surprised to enter the prayer room and see that people were sitting on the floor because I am used to people having a chair to sit on. I was also nervous about sitting on the floor for a long period of time because my body is not used to it and I am not as youthful as I once was. After about thirty minutes, I started to get really uncomfortable, but I continued to sit because I did not want to be offensive by standing. I was surprised to see volunteers cooking meals for the guest because that is not something that I am used to seeing at a …show more content…

In talking to some of the individuals at the temple, they have concerns about racial profiling and hate crimes committed against Sikh people. For example, the mass shooting at a Sikh temple in Wisconsin by a person who thought that they were Muslims. Additionally, hate crimes started to spike in this community after the September 11, 2001 terror attacks in New York City because people thought they were Muslims. As a counselor, I can help advocate for this community by educating others about the religion, people, and also fight to end the racial profile and hate crimes committed to this

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