Through The Mind’s EyeExpatriation today and tomorrow [Archives:2007/1021/Community]
Maged Thabet Al-Kholidy
Every human has a place to live, but indeed, nowhere is like the homeland. Few people like to live far from their own countries and most very much prefer living in their own motherlands where they can freely enjoy the value of their dignity. However, this doesn't mean that those who leave their countries are denying their origins or forsaking their patriotism. Undoubtedly, something else serious is behind this.
The phenomenon of expatriation has become common, especially among young men who leave everything, i.e., family, studies and sometimes low-income jobs. Some return with an amount of money devoted for marriage, for example, or similar projects.
Worse still, they sometimes borrow money to travel again to collect whatever they can to be spent on their next return. Several years may pass wherein everything remains the same or maybe even worsens as they just travel back and forth.
What's the use of such expatriation when it ensures no better tomorrow, neither for the expatriates themselves nor for their nation as a whole?
In many cases, hard times come upon such people, forcing them to leave their homelands, although some don't like it. They live afar in a strange environment that daily forces them to drink the bitter cup of homesickness. They experience painful days when they remember families, relatives and sweet and lovely moments spent in their country.
However, the real pain is when they realize that they daily pay the cost in vain because they receive no changes in their lives. Surely, they must have strong hopes to return, but they have a duty to themselves, their children and their nation. They should take it seriously to solve some, if not all, of the obstacles that forced them to leave and then shape a better future.
In fact, if bad circumstances had been solved wisely, the word 'expatriation' would find no place in the dictionary of such people and, subsequently, the homeland would be the best place to live life.
Dear expatriates and youth, it's now your duty to go hand in hand to discover the reasons for this phenomenon and do your best to shatter its impulse in order to shape your own circumstances in such a way that offers stability to you and future generations.
Therefore, it's better to balance the equation of expatriation – its positive and negative impacts – not by emotions or prejudice, but through the mind's eye.
Majed Thabet Al-kholidy is a 26 year old writer from Taiz, currently doing his M.A. at English Dep, Taiz Uni.An ex-editor of Eng. Journal of the Uni.
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