Immigrants

I am an immigrant, indirectly speaking. I was born in Brazil but my mother is from Portugal. My dad´s parents were Italian and Portuguese. And if we go back a bit further we will find ancestors from France and if we look way back even from an Asian country.

I am sure if everyone who is against immigrants reflected about it, they would come to the same conclusion: we are all immigrants except for the natives and even they could have migrated from other lands, so why all the commotion about immigrants nowadays?

If someone helped and accepted your ancestor in the past, why not help those who are coming to your country nowadays? I have read a lot of hateful remarks towards the issue. Stop being hateful towards others! Everyone has their own reasons for wanting to move and experience life elsewhere. We all live on this planet and we think that we are the owners, but I am going to tell you something which you may not know and is very important: we are not!

In my opinion, we are roommates sharing this beautiful planet. That’s what we are and not the owners of this blue ball. If we just learned to respect everyone and lend people a helping hand, I have a feeling that it would be a better place. I know you must be saying that I am a dreamer, as John Lennon once said and was, but the bottom line is that we are all the same and deserve the same opportunities.

I am going to share an episode that happened to me the other day in my neighborhood at the drugstore. My neighborhood is the place for the Haitians who are immigrating to Brazil nowadays. All around the neighborhood you see loads of Haitians speaking French, opening small businesses, hanging out together, walking around, and just enjoying life. Personally, I think they make the neighborhood a more beautiful place. Anyhow, I was at the drugstore and a woman had dropped something, I really did not see the object. A Haitian boy picked it up and in pigeon Portuguese and some French, tapped the lady on the shoulder and tried to return it. She screamed and instead of noticing what he was doing thought that he was trying to rip her off.  At the checkout line, she turned to me and said that she couldn´t wait to move out of the neighborhood because it was infested with “those kinds of people” (she pointed at the boy). I looked at her and wanted to tell her off, but calmly I said “Oh you mean helpful people, generous people, like the boy who returned what belonged to you? Hope you move away soon so more people like that young boy can move in.” She didn´t know what to say. Some people in line laughed and she felt embarrassed.

I do realize that there needs to be a certain control as to how many people should be in a place so that there will be equal wealth and health, however, if each one of us just helps those out around us, imagine how much better the whole world will be.

Written: October 7, 2015 Todos os direitos reservados a Meire Marion

Photo: Google Images
The Biggest Concentration of Immigrants in Brazil