Brave Souls

I'm a coward.

There are people who came to this country in slow ships across vast oceans looking for a better life. They had nothing. The conditions were horrible. Some of these people are my ancestors and I am proud of them. I also know I never could have done this.

There are people who walk miles and miles and miles to safety. They carry all they have on their bodies. They know they are coming to a place where no one wants them, but they also know it's safer than where they were. I could never do this.

There are people who go where everything about them is misunderstood, even hated. They go to countries where people believe they're only there to destroy things. They go where their religion will always be in the minority. They go where people will use any excuse to blame them for things. They go anyway because they know these places are still better than where they were. And I could never do that.

Sometimes I think people hate immigrants because they, like me, also know they're cowards. They know they could never endure the hardships it takes to get to a new country. They know they could never push themselves to walk the miles or suffer the pain to go to a better land. I think they know they fear the idea of not being in the majority, of not knowing the language, of being seen as The Other.

But instead of admiring people who are far braver than they could ever be, these people lash out. They get angry at the people who did what they know they could never do. They try to minimize their accomplishments. They try to make other people hate them.

All they are really doing is exposing their own insecurities.