We’re the ones here now
it’s us. that’s it
on the spot
in the place
my face
and yours
just a set of real people
all with our own lives
loves
pains and joy
so why
do we feel so afraid
of Them
that They’ll come
and
take it all away
This blog has felt a bit neglected lately. The weather has been too snowy for canton visits and I’ve been trying to keep my poetry aside to submit to various journals and stuff. I’ve also been doing the first edits on my novel and writing some short stories and trying to get some other people’s stories together for an anthology (phew!). I think I’m procrastinating a bit, but I’m also enjoying myself… mostly!
This morning I saw a repellent poster from a local extreme-right political group that was scare-mongering about women in burquas. It didn’t even have an organisation name on it, but I know who put it up. What’s the German for Stop Punishing Women just because you’re a Fucking Coward? This country is so small, it sometimes feels like you know everyone. It seems barmy that people still feel so afraid of women looking different that they’d seek to ban it. I don’t know. I’m probably not making much sense. I got really angry.
clairevetica 
Divide and conquer. Someone started a discussion recently by saying “What do you think of foreigners?” But what does that mean? What is a foreigner? Just someone who isn’t from around here. And where is “here”? So anyone moving to somewhere different is a foreigner. We all move around. We should be able to move. We should accept each other as people who have hopes and dreams and want a pleasant life. Build bridges, not walls. Lift each other up, don’t bring each other down.
Being an expat for more than 10 years certainly gives you a different interpretation of “foreigners”. Something perhaps more people should try!
In a world made so small by internet and communications it just seems so pointless and small to be separatist.