Monday, February 22, 2016
Immigrants...
When new immigrants first arrive in a land where they were either previously unknown, or looked on as oddities because of the sketchy information available, they must accept the fact that they are the new ones...They might arrive in desperation, fleeing from the cruelties of an oppressor, or may wonder if this is just another respite after being driven from one point in the world to another after another as their culture is shunned by those already established...
Some may disembark with a look of defiance as they challenge the inhabitants to try to bend their will to a different way of life...Many may have been forced to relocate after failure to comply with laws they could not live under; others may have accumulated a ponderous weight of debt, and been involuntarily sent to a foreign land where they have little chance of repaying their obligations...
There are always the crafty ones who arrive eager to increase their wealth by trade and commerce, ready to ply their skills in business to circulate what is plentiful among those who find it scarce...The well-meaning and honest among them know that fair bargaining and good treatment will increase their wealth over time as their reputations grow...Those who will choose the shorter path to riches may have problems escaping that same reputation, and find it difficult to conduct business anywhere...
The ones to be most feared by the watchful are those who enter a world uninvited, expecting the established residents to accept their own laws and be governed in a way unknown to those already there...They might worship in rituals completely unacceptable to those already rooted there, and may try to force acceptance of strange and repulsive customs onto an unwilling populace...
The wiser and more patient among this last group might prefer building tolerance slowly by trying to blend into an entrenched society...The less accommodating will attempt to force their beliefs unwanted on a people unwilling to accept, thus inviting war and bloodshed...Their actions may be so fearsome and terrifying that even the calmer heads among their believers will stand silent in full knowledge of the carnage...
Elders among the established population might try to reason with the newcomers in an attempt to assimilate them and resume peaceful, if tension-filled lives...The less tolerant among those already settled want command of their own land returned, and try to gather others to their cause by talk of violence and war...
The scenes described above may seem fresh in the memories of anyone who keeps abreast of news and current events, but should also be very familiar to students of history as the scenes have been played out many times on the world's stage, most recently and well documented in the American experience of the past few centuries...How our present chapter in this book will be written depends on how well the current players recall and apply the lessons of history...
Sadly, no matter who writes of these times in the future, the names that will be remembered are those who assumed leadership of the warring factions supported by those who failed to demand a peaceful solution from either side, while the victims, as usual, will be those of every faith and every culture who only wanted to conduct their businesses and raise their families alongside others...
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