I am mindful tonight of current events. Between bombs on restaurants and attacks on field hospitals, my heart is broken and seething. Mixed in with my grief, I also must acknowledge that I have found another
home. It is not a cabin in the woods, or
an apartment with heat and hot water.
This one, like so many, is not a physical location, but an idea. It’s home and it's family. I am so stricken with the hate and the
violence of a handful of people who wish to change their world by ending
someone else’s.
Despite their best efforts though, I can see a bright and vibrant love
and compassion. In response to events like the
raid of La Taverna du Liban and the attack on a Red Cross infirmary in Euromaidan, a community united. True, there are local reactions, but
internationally the ex-pat community is also coming together to find their own, to mourn
as one, and to support each other.
As ex-pats past and present we may, at times, be outsiders
in the towns where we were born, and we certainly have conflicting loyalties, opinions and traditions, but together we are a family. Even if you are a cousin that I haven’t met
yet, I will likely buy you dinner, share a laugh, and cry with you if that’s
what you need.
So as my heart is once again ripped asunder, I say to you,
those who kidnap aide workers, shoot civilians, and bomb school children: Shame on you.
Those are my siblings, my nieces, nephews, dayzas, babbas and ejes. We will continue to love each other
despite your best efforts.
