Yet we are not. For those luck ones who find comfort in staying in the same boarders forever*, they feel the freedom of their choices. Some of us are not so lucky. We live in a world where it is so easy to jump across boarders, and a little under two years ago, I made the decision to jump.
I moved to Scotland, up in the Highlands. Its green, mountainous and beautiful. Initially it was just for travel but I came across a friendly group of people and found myself a second home. I made friends and a few months back one became more than friends. Right now I'm on a Youth mobility visa. This is a visa for commonwealth countries and those who get it are allowed to work. I've had work for well over a year now, managing a hostel. Its been really good.
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| Isle of Skye, a 1.5 hour drive from where I currently live. Scotland is so beautiful!!! |
But its coming to close and I fearfully looked towards the end. After I leave, I can't come back. I don't have ancestors here. University is an enormous debt and finding a job to sponsor me is hard, it means I have to move away from the location that makes me happy. It means I'm confined to my country. Except by one other means, which will be my means of entry. The Partnership Visa.
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| The paperwork. |
But its brought forth some interesting insights to freedom. Neither of us have a criminal record and we both enjoy working. All we want is the ability to be together. Yet we cannot bring each other into either country with out a certain amount of income. I very much understand the philosophy behind it. The restrictions try to reduce the number of people who would abuse the system. Yet there is a sacrifice in this. Those who would come and work hard, loss the opportunity. Those who are lucky enough to be born are allowed to stay and abuse the system at their leisure, idly ignoring the jobs that others would happily take.
Further more it takes things that are supposed to happen at their own time and strips them down to a bureaucratic process. While I don't want a child now, if I did, it would increase the amount of money needed to come in. Again, I understand the process, but we can't call our countries free, if there is no mobility. Other aspects I have to look at in a bureaucratic perspective, instead of the way most people see it, through a lens of white happiness and true devotion.
Many people who have parents or grandparents from Europe or other countries find it frustrating to see how they moved with ease between boarders and oceans, able to live successful constructive lives. No one dies on the journey over, perhaps grandparents, and perhaps it was sacrificing their home for a safer more prosperous life. But that's what I'm doing. I'm seeking a more prosperous life. Shouldn't we, in this day and age not have to sacrifice our home land, or struggle against a land that now looks out with fearful eyes.
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| My Grandmother (Oma) who came to Canada in the 50s to start fresh. |
I feel like countries are like someone who's just come out of a hard relationship. They look out at the other countries as though they're going to break each others hearts when perhaps a little more openness and love between friends is something to work towards. I don't want to be bound by your boarders. I want to come and contribute, to make home in two places.
In the end of the day, I want to be with the man I love and we want to be able to do things on our own time. We'll go through this visa, and we shouldn't face much hassle along the way, but we both feel this process takes away from people where it shouldn't. Life is full of sacrifice, but it feels like we sacrificed the wrong things in life for a freedom that isn't truly free.
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