The Unidentifiable Beauty

“So what, it is our country!”  This is a phrase, and different versions of it, I heard a few times last week, said by people during several documentaries I watched and a few essays I read. At first glance, there didn’t seem to be any connection between a film about the missing and murdered indigenous women in Canada, a series about immigrating to Andalusia, a series called “Far from home”, and the papers I read after seeing some episodes of the TV series “George Gently”. Somehow though, the misconception of historical rights evolving into believing the concept of supremacy and finally sprouting as racism looks to be a common nominator regarding the defending one’s own uncertainty and lack of education. It doesn’t come as a surprise that the solution to most problems in society lays in democratic compromising or – this seems to be getting rather popular – a pyramid construction with a narcissistic puppet on top. The most obvious solutions are frustrated because of conservative pro...

Sometimes I get a response on my writings like; “you are mixing up too many subjects, it is confusing”. I must admit that I probably need a few words more than others to express my thoughts and mostly that is because I don’t like “twitter-like” statements without describing its context and historic background. Keeping concentrated while reading a few thousand words, understanding metaphors and recognizing irony are among the abilities that slowly get lost in this modern world of fast news, social media and small screens. It is proven that most people are losing interest fast if they have to scroll down more than just a few times on their device of choice. I know a paperless way of communicating is good for the environment, but it certainly has its limitations. After one year of living in Portugal – 2007 – I shared my experiences by using paper and restricting myself to a maximum of 2 pages per anecdote. Maybe it sounds “cocky” but I’m proud to say the book sold well. Now, at the ris...

One of the first remarks people make about immigrants often is that integrating should be the top priority when they come to live in their country. Immigrants should learn the language and adjust to the historical and cultural fingerprints of the country they have chosen or, for some Geo-political reason, were forced to live in. That may sound reasonable but it isn’t that obvious for a lot of reasons.  We, as an example, choose to leave our home country and start the adventure of a new life in a small hamlet on the top of a lonesome hill in Central Portugal. The country obviously is built on Catholic traditions and the influences of a dark period of dictatorship, poverty and a dislike of authority are still noticeable in all kinds of daily situations. Throughout history, societies changed and gained, as well socially as economically, broader views by influences from foreign people that brought their skills, culture, and knowledge. Controversial however is when people, considering...