In a recent conversation I had with a friend of mine, she
told me that there is nothing better than living in your own country, with your
peers, your family, friends, the food you like, the “Arepas” you grew up
eating, the environment, the weather, your language, and specially avoid the
hassle of legal issues and having to carry a passport with you all the time.
I think that some of us will disagree on that, and some
others are likely to agree. Her thoughts changed when I gave my opinion about
her argument. I’ve always thought that we should rule out the belief that your
country is only a piece of land.
Venezuela is not only a geographic space to the North of
South America, but what you built and lived in it. In this country I’ve made my
friends, there’s my family, but if I ever leave I will also have them.
Sometimes when we go out to socialize, we are more interested in the person
that is texting us on the phone that the ones around us, and I can’t find a
difference between that and making a Skype video call, WhatsApp is so useful
that you can keep contact with anybody anytime anywhere to the point of even
becoming a nuisance.
If my people come to visit me they will always be welcome,
if I meet someone from Venezuela then I’ll have a little piece of my country. It
is not the territory, is the essence. For me Venezuela is a small group of
people that I love (friends and family), than anybody with a Venezuelan or
European passport but that was born in creole territory. If family and friends
love you they will never abandon you, not even if you reside in New Zealand.
With so many Venezuelan immigrants living around the world, Venezuela’s
traditional food is very popular everywhere that even in the Supermarkets you
can find P.A.N. Flour to prepare “Arepas” at home, without standing in line and
anytime you want it. If you can eat “Shawarma” in Caracas, you can definitely
eat “Arepas” in Toronto.
To say that you don’t want to leave the country because we
have nice landscapes is absolutely ridiculous. Certainly we have spectacular
landscapes and resources, but we are not the only ones who do, the world is
huge and vast, let’s travel around and see those beauties the world has for us.
If I’m strong enough to deal with the death of a friend or
family due to the high crime and murder rate in Venezuela, then I’m strong
enough to deal with the cold weather of a northern country. So weather and low
temperatures are not an issue for me.
To learn a language seems to be the big problem for anybody
who decides to leave his or her countries, especially for the elderly. To this
person who is afraid: Be brave and try it, you might like what you get at the
end. To learn another language will let you see the world with other eyes.
Last but not least, although a ridiculous argument in my
opinion, I rather have to carry a passport on me all the time and go through
all the hassle to reside legally in another country than live in dread of
getting robbed or murdered when I go to the grocery store down the block.
