A "Black Swan Event" is when the unexpected occurs, causing a huge mindshift and change in how the world works. People never imagined that Black Swans existed, until the discovery of the first Black Swan... (as per book "The Black Swan", by Nassim Nicholas Taleb, 2007, that sold over 3 million copies)

Is a perception change the next Black Swan Event? Consider that by changing perception we might change the world. Look at everyday things from different angles. Find beauty in the unexpected...
Change our thinking, change our actions, change our world!

See that all people are part of God's puzzle and have something to give. Black swans do exist. The ugly duckling was actually a swan who needed to discover himself and where he fitted and be who he was meant to be. To the last, the lost and the least, you are beautiful as you are.
May all who visit this page feel God's touch and experience His blessing...

Sunday 10 March 2013

On the Question of Invasion

Go back home, an irate member of the public says in a newspaper about me and people who look like me. You stole our land, he adds, I suppose hoping to make me feel ashamed and guilty for being who I am.
Listen here buddy, I think in reply, I paid quite a lot for that house I am living in. I didn't steal anything from anyone.
Or did I, from his viewpoint, I ponder?

If you buy stolen property, and you are found with it, police will normally confiscate it from you and give it back to the rightful owner. You may be given some compensation, but this is not always the case. So what is done when a country is said to be stolen from its original inhabitants, and there are cases where this happened almost 400 years ago, in some cases even longer? And now millions of people originating from these colonisers now live in the country.

Much of the world has been colonised in this way. Look around you. Even when you think you are rightfully part of a country, are you really? Who lived in the country before your forefathers colonised the area, or perhaps because your forefathers were sent to the area unwillingly, as in the case of slaves and criminals? Tribal people especially the world over are a people adrift, trying to survive in homelands that are now foreign to them. There are San (Bushmen) in Southern Africa, Aboriginal people in Australia, Native American Indians in America, Inuit people further north, Native Indian people in South America, and many more examples. Consider, where do you live now and which part of the world are your ancestors originally from?

I wonder about migrants too, and I include refugees in this category as often unwilling migrants. Many migrants have moved all over the world. In many parts of the world the influx of migrants has changed the demographics of the population who previously lived there. Existing residents may be aghast that their previous cultural way of life is under threat. Yet, all these migrants were willingly accepted by the government of the country, though sometimes perhaps not so willingly. Perhaps the government where you live may soon be comprised of people you now see as migrants, who may be the new future of the country.

So I ask, how can anyone in the world we live in today tell anyone else to go home, whatever the original reason for residing in the country may be? Aren't all people equal in the eyes of God, no matter their background? Do you know what you are asking? I see this as impossible. I would rather suggest we accept that all the people around us are here to stay, and that we need to learn to live together, with all of our differences. You cannot tell existing people to leave or you may create war and unrest. If you don't like the influx, complain to your government, not to the new people! A country can really only stop new people arriving, or can choose who they wish to welcome in, for example allowing in only people who will adopt the country's culture and values, if there is such a thing.

All of the migrants and strangers and their children in turn will need jobs and housing and food and should be welcomed as part of society--or are you planning on creating squatters and angry residents on your doorstep? Don't see race or colour, even culture--see  everyone as individuals all trying to make a future in your own wonderful country, and see one nation moving into the future together instead.

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