Migrant / Immigrant / Refugee ?

Europe is in complete panic with hundreads of thousands of people flooding from Africa and Middle-East into our lands. Even if EU forced its member countries to receive these people (which it didn't do but instead made it voluntary) the European countries still could not take in all the people coming here. Nobody knows what will come from all of this, but people are fearing the worst. For example Slovakia just announced that it will only receive Christians. Quite a tricky thing that and very short-sighted. But that's because they have never in their history taken in refugees. This country is very racist but only because they don't know any better. People are always afraid of everything new and strange.

Also in Nordic countries people seem to be more racist. But I don't believe they are. But the few racists can now make a lot of noise through different medias and thus make it look like there are a lot of them. In Finland we've been following how in Sweden their integration of immigrants into their society has failed spectacularly and caused huge problems in certain cities where migrants are concentrated. And we take it as a certainty that that's how it's going to be in Finland as well. And if we treat them like second-rate citizens it will be. I'll tell you why.

I have some (although very few) things in common with these people flooding into Europe. I am an immigrant. In some way a refugee from my own country. I am in a country that does not want me here. To Slovaks I am a second-rate citizen who dares to consume their roads with her heels but still doesn't speak their language or bow to her "superiors". How has that affected me? Well, if they don't respect me I don't have any respect towards them either. I don't care if I insult their customs or culture because they don't give a shit about mine. And that's how these refugees coming into our lands will feel in the future if we give them no chance of feeling at least a little bit welcome. Human beings are the most dangerous creatures on this planet, but these refugees aren't bad by nature. But we can sure as hell make them so! 

I still have it extremely easy though. I am from a well respected country, so when I am treated in a degrading manner I can remind people of the fact that my educational background is way superior than any of theirs. I am from a country whose language very few people speak, so when Slovaks give me a hard time of how stupid I am because I can't speak their language I ask them if they speak Finnish. And I just love seeing their faces grumble in those situations because of course they don't. And why would they, just as well why would I speak Slovak! I am from a country that is in crisis but where I can still go back whenever I feel like it. I have all opportunities in life to do whatever just because I am white! 

So, just a little reminder that however these thousands of people turn out to be after spending time in our countries depends quite a lot on us. If you go screaming racist things to these people in the street they will hate you for it and probably take it out on you or your countrymen later. In every group there are rotten ones who are just born to be evil, but I find it such hypocrisy for Finns to say that Muslims are violent, horrible people when we ourselves hold the record in murder and domestic violence in the entire Europe and all Western Countries! 

So lets all just calm down and try to get along. I like remembering our neighbours where we used to live. They were a Muslim family, a very strange thing in our neighbourhood. But they were the best behaving people I still, to this date, have ever met! I remember they gave us their traditional bread and still sent us Christmas cards when we moved elsewhere, even though they didn't even celebrate Christmas! So, if people would just stop freaking out like idiots and got to know some of these people they might be positively surprised. I can't see that happening but one can always hope...