Will it become
rare to be able to just breathe deeply out, and say what a crazy mixed up world
we live in 2016? For the mood of the land runs wild at present, as dispatched
humans from all over the world, search out Germany for their new domicile. If I
state a view here I could end up getting a lecture from one group of people why
you should buy into this motion to “cure your mindset” of such a view. Or I am
asked to change my manner and be a better person by taking on another’s stand
towards the issue of migrants. Or release my voice to the topic on the table,
by becoming a passive activist; my term for giving your money to this or that
association so all is looking well on the outside fabric of your world - or is it
actually theirs?
I am hesitant
to say too much at recent get togethers, for it seems there is often a strong
stand placed in the room, which makes my hairs literally stand on end. The
present displacement of human beings in Europe at large from warring areas in
the East, is the hottest topic at present. Also termed by some here as the
worst refugee crisis since world war two. Or by others, seen as terrorists plot
to infiltrate westernized civilization. Perhaps you have been told it’s a
natural progression of western military action over the last decade that has
brought this migration about. Whatever the reasons given or verbal exchanges
used, it often just boils down to my feeling I have lost the jest of whatever
it was, I, in the first place expressed as my opinion. I get instead shouldered
or driven into looking at a different perspective, without being able to share
and formulate, in a construction discussion, my view. Or being able to create
ideas, to developing new solutions to a weary and old dilemma; for all want
quality of life yet it has grown way out of proportion in providing it now.
Whatever terms
are used for placing ones views “out there”, I am sure the previous statements
help conjure up the intensity which follows. Various stories gathered from the
media of how “I” or “we” or “they” see it are added to personal recollections
of injustices of family history and you have an explosive energy in
circulation. It sizzles without needing hardly any fat to fuel the fire.
Recently as I
mentioned wanting to perhaps inquire about training for a helpline for the
influx of refugees in our area I was asked why! I explained the organization
places a strong weight on being there to listen and support all displaced
refugee citizens from other countries. Not tell them what to do and inflict
your personal beliefs or ideas on how they should find individual solutions to
very complex issues. Rather be a caring soul, whom allows the individual
speaking to form the traumas they have experienced into words, which you hear
without judgment. Giving them a chance to draw a map of how their future could
be, in a land they have yet to learn the reality about, although they see it as
a haven against what they have left behind.
After
explaining this, the comments and opinions that came from one of my friends
made me more than blush. Could such hatred, fear and animosity against other
human beings really exist at such a heightened level in our modern world I
thought? Was I actually hearing right or did someone bring on a pre-historic
recording from times past into the room! Sadly, I know my view is not the
majority in the area I live. Probably honestly less and less in the land, as
the medias hype reciting rather horrific acts of hooliganism in our cities,
initiated often by social groups intent on creating a heighten aggression or
instability wherever they can, gets more attention. However this often just
diminishes daily our attention on the real tragedy behind the refugee’s
stories.
The year 2016
is also the anniversary of my arrival in Germany twenty-eight years ago. I live
here as a foreigner yet I have never once felt any form of intense hatred as I
view now towards others. It has been said to me its because of my white skin or
my enduring German that I am more readily accepted into Germanic society.
Perhaps I was included in the fold because I lived in my parents-in-laws house,
immediately began working for my money and integrating into the fabric of
society, by learning the language and being part of the community into which, I
had consciously made a decision to come to.
Whichever way I
look at it all the topsy-turvy views in today’s world, it still makes me
question my true sense of freedom here. For if I am scared to view my thoughts
– if I am terrorized into keeping quite – if my mouth is covered by the hand of
democracy, for the good of the few (those controlling the purse strings), where
will our humanity go this year as we battle monstrous themes regarding so many
individuals displaced from their birth lands?
The question
for me becomes in a year in which my personal reflection is to “reclaim your
life” - what is my life and do I measure the value of my life as more or less
than my neighbours, by the manner in which I entered the land? The basic
necessities the United Nations declare as being the measure for quality of life
are more than ever relevant: “QUALITY OF LIFE: This is the notion of human
welfare (well-being) measured by social indicators rather than by
"quantitative" measures of income and production.” This has a very
strong message in its formulation.
For we can
blame societies influence or our up bringing or a number of other factors for
living the life we lead here in the western world but remember one thing – YOU
have the choose what to believe, what to carry forward in your daily
interactions with others and how to formulate what you call “your life”. It is
often not easy to swallow this. It can cause conflicts and upsets in your
immediate circles. Yet it is in the end simply, your choice if you accept we
all have the right to live here on this plant, in peace and harmony.
Just changing
one’s outlook can cause a deep effect for more souls than you care to count. It
is the butterfly effect. Begin today by reflecting on what you truly believe,
why and if you wish to hold onto that belief. There need be no more asked than
to begin a new way of acting, which leaves behind less fear embedded in future
generations. Then perhaps in another era, not too far down the road, we can
finally term earth, as a place called “heaven for all”.
This is why I
whisper. For my words could be the support you need, to find your way in an
unknown land, along a new pathway that leads you to home.
Deepest
gratitude, your Korus
