Immigration-One World?

America has it all; a president with, love him or hate him, global attention and many of the most remarkable and impressive sights in the world. It is now a diverse mix of cultures, smells and tastes and this changes its identity in many ways. The United States is no longer the country it was and will never be again, regardless of any restrictions Trump places on immigration. The town has become America and America is a product of its people. And on a recent trip to New York I had the pleasure of enjoying the perks; the best Italian American marinara pasta I’ve ever had and how open people are when forced to blend in and communicate with people with different traditions, likes and dislikes. One thing that the people of the United States seem to agree on is that they love their country and are willing to do anything to protect it. They see America as a wise father who has taken them under his wing and given them the fuel and love they needed to thrive and succeed. This sense of acceptance of diversity has been many years in the making and many have perished and died in the process.

Now look at Sweden, which is an apparent much more recent immigration crisis. Millions of people in need of refuge have come to the country in search of a better life for themselves and their families. The government has taken good care of them, and most will say that the Swedes have taken them in and helped them integrate into society. However, there is a dark side. Some Swedes resent the changes that have occurred as a result of the arrival of these people who look and act so differently from them. They see unemployment rising, crime rates soaring, the economy suffering, and they fail to see the benefit these newcomers bring to the country. These people seem to take more than they give and their beautiful cities are now covered in garbage and graffiti. Can you blame them for being a little resentful? I myself have seen the country change drastically throughout my life and, at the age of 36, I have had a hard time understanding the deterioration of the country. Having grown up in London but visiting Sweden regularly, I was struck by how multiculturalism seemed perfectly normal in London with almost all my friends being from some exotic country, but so abnormal in Sweden.

However, I now realize that the situation in Sweden is not final, and simply part of a process that the world is going through. The nations of the world have a choice: they can close their doors or leave them open. The instinctive reaction to changes or uncomfortable situations is to close all the doors and remember the past. It’s easier than taking staggering steps into an unknown future. We know how to control it to work as we have for years and our ancestors before us. Our identities are concrete and we take comfort in a community of like-minded people when we keep strangers away. However, we are also obstacles to change, and change can be good. The wealth of experience that we have the opportunity to experience in our lives increases dramatically. We have the opportunity to go further, to achieve things we didn’t know we could, to meet people and learn from people in a way that enriches our lives and the lives of those around us. We become less constrained by conformity and the expectations and ideals of society. We become more able to make decisions effectively based on a more balanced perspective of the world, a more objective view.

That’s why I travel; expand my understanding of what the world is and how people interact and behave when faced with survival and daily life in general. I crave variety and look to other cultures to explain mine and why I do what I do. I need to know why I’m working, why I’m washing, why gardening, why it’s okay to be skinny and not fat, what I do when my baby cries, why I have to lose someone I love, and why I have to do what tell me, at home, at work, in the supermarket, on the train, in the car. I need to understand the differences of nations in the world before committing to a nation. I need to understand why I have to commit to a nation when my parents were from two different nations and I was born in a third.

I am not suggesting that multiculturalism can tell us the meaning of life or improve our lives, but it does give us a more balanced perspective of the world and the freedom to ask questions and make decisions based on varied experience rather than simply social pressures.

The ‘One’ world would strip us to our naked truth and remove the obstacles to our own failings. It would allow us to think more logically and allow us to collaborate more effectively in dealing with serious problems that affect the world, not just a certain radius.

I say let’s reevaluate how we do things, remove physical and metaphorical barriers and learn to find solutions that serve the good of humanity in general, not just those who look and talk like us. Anything else will surely end in a war with catastrophic consequences…

What do you think?