Friends and multiculturalism

The migration process is a lonely process, make friends it is not easy, you will meet several people worldwide, but they will no stay in your life for so long. When I just arrived, I though I would have met my besties like in Mexico, that I will make long lasting relationships and I will be surrounded by interesting and creative people. 

I realized that you will meet many people and learn from them, I am grateful to be part of this multiracial community in Toronto, but just few stay longer and support in a genuine way. My friends are mostly migrants coming from different countries, all of them are going through some challenges and these type of situations make us united and stronger. 

However, I have tell that I've met people that they just stay when they need something from you. Most of my friends settle in another countries because they did not have any job opportunities at their own towns or because they were living in unsafe places. Some of them are survivors, I was remembering the idea of Zizek about multiculturalism, it's not easy to live in a world impacted by the difference. 

When you live in a cosmopolitan place like Toronto, la otredad te impacta, la otredad a veces aniquila. You would need to be willing to tolerate several things that may be annoying for you because in the way that are going on, but you can overcome everything with respect. 

I am going to give you an example, one day my partner and I were to camping at an indigenous community, there were some rules to follow because we were part of the camping community such as respect others' privacy, be aware of the wild animals and protect them, waste management, and not to play music after 10 pm, so people did not understand that follow the rules are part of living in the community, so they plaid loud music after 10 pm, music that disrupted the peaceful environment. We just need to understand that we are part of different communities at any given situation and we must respect the other's rules when we are in their spaces. 

Live in a world where we all have different beliefs, it makes everything more complex because I would have liked to tell them that community and respect of others is the based of everything; Respect other's beliefs, but how to handle the smells, tastes and music that you don't like, that's difficult; la otredad makes us feel uncomfortable, makes us feel that we are losing our capabilities to know which is good and bad and there is a common sense of good and bad in an ethical way. When we are in a shared space with different communities we should know that respect is our best ally. 


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

La necesidad de escribir

Existe en mi una necesidad de poner en letras lo que siento, en salir corriendo de los lugares en los que no soy yo, en salir de relaciones que no dan para más. Existe una necesidad de ponerle palabras a lo que atravieso, a veces muy contenta y otras veces con los hombros caídos de tanto llorar.  Existe un deseo en mi de ir y gritarle al mundo que a mi las letras me salvaron, me acompañaron y me ayudaron a acercarme a otros mundos. Existe esa necesidad imperiosa de hacer la diferencia, de que estos pensamientos lleguen a los oìdos que los necesitan escuchar.  Existe una necesidad de ver como mi mente conecta con las manos que escriben y que de emoción no cesan.  Existe un deseo profundo de mirarme a través de los años y ver cuánto he cambiado, que eso que pensaba y escribía, ya no lo pienso.  Y verme liberada en las letras que mi mano escribió, ver que todo pasa y que nada es realmente importante.  Lo más importante es el amor que se construye, esa rama poderosa...
Read more

DosCinco

Estaba enojada porque ibas a llegar, pero muy impaciente.  Mi mamá iba y venía del hospital, pero los doctores le decían que no era tiempo de tu llegada.  Y yo me quedaba otro tiempo sin mi mamá, pero también sin conocerte.  Ese día, ibamos a ir al Gigante y yo estaba contenta ya que iba a poder elegir el cereal que quería. Mi mamá y mi tía dijeron que antes de ir al super mercado tendríamos que pasar al doctor a ver cómo iba ese bebé y pues ya te estabas pasando, así que no fui al Gigante y me regresé con mi tía a la casa porque ya ibas a llegar. Estaba enojada contigo, pero llegaste, así largo, con la cabeza alzada y la mirada profunda. Desde que te ví sabía que eras parte de mi carne, cuando te cargaba sentía que eras mi hermanito.  Ibas creciendo, travieso, parlachín, curioso, artista. Yo lo único que quería desde que te conocí es que no sufrieras, que pudieras tener una vida poco dolorosa.  Jugamos muchas tardes, me cuidaste y te cuidé toda tu infancia, que...
Read more

Moving in and out

We are moving out in a housing crisis, 500 square feet, probably 600 square feet apartament, realtors speculating how much people can afford, they said we can pay more, furniture, insurance for the building, hydro, insurance, liability, change the address. We are moving out, we want to have a brighter place to say hello to the sun.  We are migrant birds from the sur global coming to the North, they said that it is the true North.  North is cold and individualistic, but we make it bloom with our colours, joy and friends.  Adulthood is hard, I think nobody is prepared for this housing crisis... I wonder myself when the land is not enough for houses? The land should be enough, greedy is never enough.  There are some families that have a house of 5mill acres and some they can just afford to rent a 600sq ft apartament in one of the most cosmopolitan cities, Toronto. Some of them, they are houseless, they can't afford anything, living on the streets where everyone pretend ...
Read more