The Importance of Feeling Secure

Vasu Reddy from Chicago
vasureddy@aol.com

First; it’s me, I, mine and then my folks, my home, my lane, my village, my town, my state and my country.  There is no secret to what comes first.  It is an absolute certainty that I come first and everything else follows.  It’s a well-developed emotional and rational human response to everything; when it comes to choice first it’s me.  It is instinctive and natural and absolute emotion that allows for one’s survival.

Although the global political systems are loosely based on democracies, communists, dictatorships and rulers; the people’s aspirations for themselves and for their near and dear ones remain the same.  When it comes to making a choice, it will always be me and mine.

Wherever we live in the world and whatever system of government we are under, the aspect of personal security will always be in the forefront of personal comfort.  Politically it is probably the most audible and also most fearful feeling when security of ones surroundings is concerned.  Politicians play up to the fears of internal security of the nation as their main objective of governance, and they have been using the internal security card as long as we have lived in societies.  Today the proliferation of radio, television, communications, internet and social media simply feed much faster to our fear of safety.

Each nation irrespective of its size and or stature, would like to be sovereign and protective of its boundaries.  Also, its governance and politics be respected for what they are as its people have chosen to embrace its own nuances.  The majorities of nations on earth that share boundaries live in peace and respect one another’s boundaries.  Many nations, both big and small and sharing boundaries have different traditions, languages and customs.  These differences in way of life don’t affect their neighborly relations.  In some other case the border disputes are constant.  In these instances the fight against the neighbor is a major political rallying factor leading to the polling booth.  When a country is under dictatorship and need general and populous acceptance, attacking the neighbor nation/s is a ploy to stay in power.  By and large most nations on earth respect their border and people appreciate not just their but their neighbor’s boundaries.

The last 40 years of improved ease of transportation and employment based immigration has made relocation normality.  Millions of people have moved to their new and adopted lands and made it their home.  Many nationalities are now hyphenated identities that combine their ancestral nation and the nation they have adopted and currently live in.  It is natural that the ancestral habits including food, Dress and language will continue to be embraced by generations irrespective of where they live.  The love for traditions and customs continues irrespective of time and place.  When you combine the multi-cultural societies and continued growth with the minority communities, in any society the scope for political exploitation is a normal and easy practice.  In the USA, we still refer to black people as African Americans.  Why?  Almost all the black people don’t have anything to do with Africa.  They are Americans, just as white people or any other people who are the citizens if the nation.  The Chinese, Indians, Asians, Mexicans, Hispanics and every other nation’s immigrants have a hyphenated tag.  In reality everyone should be tagged, but we don’t.  The tagging is perhaps not linked to the initial occupiers of nations, rather tagged to the immigrants who help with nation building.  No matter how the history is written and handling the immigrants, today there is no need for hyphenation and discrimination.  If you live in a nation and are a citizen of that nation, then you are simply a citizen of that nation.  All nations for some reason continue to hyphenate and to a vast degree discriminate societies based on ancestral origins.  The fundamentals of immigration and the participation of immigrants in the development of their respective adopted societies get clouded by the politicians when they bring in the nationalism as a political pitch.  Any person riling against a community conveniently forgets his or her origins.  At some point of time, we (our families) are all immigrants.  Especially in the Americas, the natives are so outnumbers (many a reasons for this), they are a minuscule minority.  They themselves are hyphenated as Native Americans.  So, all the communities are hyphenated and a vast (99%) majority of people are immigrants who sought out opportunity in the new land.  We are all the same; just look different.

So, going back to security, it is all paramount to all citizens.  We migrate not just for a place to live but for opportunity, contribution to the society and also security for self and family.

Much of the immigration to North America and other nations over the last 40 years have been thru people seeking to satisfy the country seeking talent to meet its needs.  The benefit to the nations and the immigrants has been mutual and rewarding.  Only in the last few years the rhetoric against the immigrants has become a political narrative.  There is obvious global tension with terrorism and also individuals showing their displeasure against nation/s and societies that have provided them a new home and new opportunity.    While the majority of global migrants embrace and cherish their new home (while retaining their own ancestral traditions) isolated examples of displaying displeasure towards their new home.  Although isolated, these incidents cause considerable mistrust with the entire community.  These disturbing incidents are not isolated to the immigrant community, but anyone can be influenced by whatever factors leading to the disturbing nature, that leads to terror and killing.  Most times the effected are the ones that are near and dear.  The western societies by and large foster democracies and individual freedom and choice, where people live in peace.  But one incident is enough to cause divisions within the communities.

The last few years have been seeing increased incidents of terror and mindless violence.  All nations are facing the unexpected terror and mindless violence.  A combination of fanatics and open borders, and perhaps an immigration system that was designed generations ago, along with the localized extremists, and absolutely the www and social media; all along with politics add to lapses in societal security.  While any government can’t control the infiltration or promotion of terror, today’s communications and media make it impossible to monitor.

The politicians make it project the communities in such extremism, even situations of isolated religious or communal terror becomes glorified.  It doesn’t benefit anyone, except build communal barriers.  By no mean even a single incident of terror is acceptable, but raking it up 24/7/365 makes it an advertisement for the also want to be.

People primarily want peace and opportunity.  The reality is no one wants to migrate to a place where there is no peace and opportunity.  If any place doesn’t foster peace, it will seldom welcome with opportunity for new citizens.  We all want (no matter where we live) to provide security and opportunity for our families.  No matter what someone is mouthing, we are where we are and that is where we belong and it is a choice of individuals and families to make their home at their choice.  No rhetoric can make it any different.  We have already chosen to become a part of a community we live in, to be good citizens and that holds irrespective of what anyone says.   If any society is unwelcoming and without opportunity, then we move on to where we find the solace.