This post may not be "politically correct"

I've recently finished reading Ayaan Hirsi Ali's Infidel. The book is basically her memoirs starting from her childhood in Somalia, following through her various moves around Africa and her eventual escape to Holland. I can't say enough how I think everyone should read this book. You don't have to agree with everything she says, but what's great about it is that it really makes you think and it gives you a perspective on Somalia, Somalian immigrants in the West and Western countries' stances on integrating, assimilating, accepting (whichever you believe) foreigners into their states.

One thing that sticks out is the perspective the book has given me when considering the challenges immigrants face when moving to a new country - gaining this type of perspective is invaluable to anyone who has grown up in a country as diverse as Canada. I experienced a little of what Hirsi Ali describes when she first moves to the Netherlands when I was in France, I can understand the mental cage you could so easily get trapped inside if you react negatively to the challenges that face you instead of taking them on. There were times when all I wanted to do was surround myself with other English speakers - I could have so easily hid away in an English community. I wouldn't dare to say that my experience in France was as challenging as someones who is first arriving in the West, but I can see that the temptation to reject a new culture, language etc. is there and I can see how it can be so appealing. What Hirsi Ali does is give you the background to understand the differences in Somalian cultural (inevitably tied with religious) values and the way they transfer themselves to a Western country. This hit home having had a few friends in the past whose actions have definitely eluded me. I wouldn't take Hirsi Ali's word as truth, she writes from her point of view, but what she has to say is definitely enlightening.

Yet, to counter this perspective, Hirsi Ali harshly critiques the Dutch (and other Western countries') tendency to favour cultural relativism when accepting immigrants' cultures, religions, and values into their commuities. For someone who spent 4 years of her undergrad discussing the issue of cultural relativity, I've never really considered this one before. It's sometimes hard to turn the finger on your own culture, but Hirsi Ali forces you to. She basically says that the Dutch (she doesn't lump all Western countries together, but I think the critique can apply to many of them) are too accepting to a fault - that allowing Somalian, and other immigrant communities, to continue living as they did in their home countries is detrimental to Dutch culture, values and eventually to the stability of the state itself. Once she forced me to, I can see where this comes from. Just look at my undergrad - anthropology is a subject that is pretty much dedicated to understanding other cultures, answering the 'why's' of different groups of people. And its a subject that sprung up in the west (yes, it didn't have the most cleanliest of beginnings, but it arose from the need to understand). I would argue that this need is part of our culture, and its something like a large scale example of 'curiousity killed the cat' that she is warning us of. We learn, we digest, we understand up to the point where Hirsi Ali claims we could deteriorate the environment that was such a safe-haven for refugees like herself. To hear this from someone on the outside, who critiques the way the country, which accepted her as a refugee, allows her people to continue living the way they did in Somalia, is definitely effective.

I originally intended just to tell you to go read the book, I could go on for longer but I think its better if you just pick it up yourself and see what you get out of it. It's not a hard book to read, sometimes repetitive, but definitely worth it.

I wanted to post so here is a post...

Now that I'm done working 60+ hours a week at three jobs I can actually think again! And I've been thinking about what I should write about next. Various things have crossed my mind, like how I despise any term that starts with 'post-'. This I ran across in a graffiti book I own yesterday; the term was 'post-graffiti'. It made me cringe. I will save this topic for another time. Other things like more anecdotes from kindergarten, my hatred for cubicles and other such office related anger were other popular topics in my mind. But really right now, at this very moment, its a time to make it personal. Writing is a form of therapy yes (?) and this is, I would argue, why most writers write to begin with. They do it for themselves, and if it can enlighten or interest someone else than all the better.

I'm entering transition time again, every year for the past 4 years I have lived in a different city, with a different group of friends and each time I've either started new or re-newed old acquaintances. I never meant it to be this way, so far its just turned out so. I told myself when I moved back to Canada from France that I would stay somewhere for at least 2 years - I would settle myself, I would try to be grounded. I've failed. The minute I step onto new or old soil this ridiculous part of me wants to move on again, I have a constant urge to keep on going. I exhaust myself. When I'm somewhere new I can't stop talking about going somewhere newer, when I'm somewhere old I can't stop talking about going back to the new. It's a constant problem. I have trouble understanding people who aren't like this sometimes. This can be a problem too. Every part of me resists staying still and money, if there is spare, will be put aside for future trips to Mongolia or Syria - or internships abroad for school (this being the next escape plan).

All this I have come to admit about myself this year - if I think about it, it's the way I've always been. And recognition is the first step right? I'm not trying to fix it, because I don't think its a problem anymore. It may be different from a lot of people I know who are more settled with furniture and cars and dogs and are ok being in the same place for the next 20 years. But I've realised that for me, a physical place is never going to make me feel grounded or settled - it'll be something else. When I know what that is, maybe I will settle somewhere... for a bit. But at least I'll know I'll be able to take it with me, wherever I go.

et voila, un petit peu de mon coeur pour vous.