The fantastic bassist/guitarist and soul shoutin' sista'! Debra Killings on "Fat City!" 8th & 11th February! 
All You Need Is Love
An Opposite Viewpoint
In Swedish (scan of the ÖB article)
Often, until you have lived in another country for a long period of time you don't fully know yourself. When you have lived in your own society for your entire life you rarely realize how cocooned you have become in cultural convention. Life becomes a series of well-rehearsed routines, which are seldom questioned.
For those who have left their country for a long duration of time and then returned, this cultural convention I speak of is usually instantly apparent. Your friends and relatives are still doing the same old things, the nightly news is still concerned with sometimes insignificant and often petty local news items, oblivious to more pressing world news. Life in general simply floats by.
I used to be part of such cultural convention in France and the States, and a major part of these cultures, is to criticize New French and new Americans (foreign immigrants), who would not or could not learn the language. I used to be among those who would say: "If they want to live in "our" country (what makes it "ours" anyway ?), then they must learn Ffrench or English. They can, and usually do when given the opportunity and encouragement by their communities. Oh how easy it is to sit back and point your finger at a foreigner and say such. How safe, how hypocritical, how ignorant we can be.
Well, I guess that I am now paying for my earlier prejudices in life. I, and many other foreigners in Finland are faced with the obstacle of the Finnish and Swedish languages. We have given up the cultural convention of our own societies for that of a new land. Such an action is exciting but it also invites many challenges, none so greater than the sense of isolation. I now understand how lonely many new French and new Americans must feel upon arrival in those respective lands.
Without good friends (I am fortunate to have them here), and I suspect many other foreigners in Finland would be almost completely helpless. At first one is completely dependent upon someone else. You go from being an independent adult in your original homeland, to that of a dependent child.
It is very frustrating when you meet rude, obstinate people. You cannot: "put them in their place". Instead you are forced to accept their ignorance, which of course only helps them to think they are right, and that they have met another stupid foreigner.
However, some are fortunate because they at least speak english as their native tongue and they don't look too much like a "mudface". Many foreigners say that they are glad that they are not black. I've spoken to various black people all over the world and what we have to endure is obscene.
Imagine how hard it is for those refugees who are forced to resettle in a strange land, be it in Finland, France or the States. They have no one to help them as I have been fortunate to have, except for often reluctant bureaucrats. They don't know where they will live, and where they will work or how to speak the language. They are totally isolated from society and probably will remain so for many years to come.
Many people criticize these refugees and foreigners for forming their own cultural groups and for "sticking together", but what other choice do have they have given their particular circumstance? The sad part about this situation is that mankind is selectively prejudiced.
A friend told me recently that he met a young man in a pub not long ago, who was instantly aggressive and told him that he "doesn't like coloured people". However when the man saw that my friend was caucasian, but of a slightly darker complexion than most, but from another country, then everything was fine. We generally accept those from Northern Europe, North America and Britain very openly, but if you are from Southern Europe, Asia or South America, it is a completely different situation. Many blacks today in France or the States are still treated as second-class citizens.
To those of you cocooned in your cultural convention, I say: "think". We foreigners are not here to take your women and men away. We are not here to take your money or to misuse your social benefits. Hopefully we can learn more from you all. And at the same time, we, having the privilege to live here, can constructively contribute something worthwhile to society. We are here for many diverse reasons.
Christian-Charles de Plicque Angel House International Missions Ministries r.f. Karleby Finland
June 2010
www.deplicque.net
