I'm sorry if the title seems a little bit depressing. Actually I'm not sorry at all, it was meant to be depressing, I want you to feel the way I do!
I just have to ask: WHAT IS UP WITH THE WORLD? Why do we have to move around like some drunken ants? When did moving around become a 'must-have' for a successful carreer? I am very curious to see who the hell is actually happy about changing countries and places and friends every six months? Sure, it's nice to boast in front of other more 'settled' friends, but in the end who's winning?
All I hear from my friends today is that they're moving. Some travel around the world, some settle in some exotic country they've never even heard of before and some change the European capital every two months. Well, I'm gonna have to tell you that I don't envy you. Not a bit! I like having my little nest where I can come back to, I like seeing the same people for several years in a row, I like developing relationships that go further than 'I know your last name and we got soooo drunk last night!". And I also like giving places a history, you know when you drive by a place and you tell to yourself: omg, this is the place I first set foot in this place, seems so long time ago!
I know most of you won't agree, but I think in time you'll come to my conclusion: moving around is bad: for you, for the planet and for the society. Hack yeah, I'm all for conservatorism! If things were exactly how I wanted them, we'd probably be living in small villages in the mountains and we'd still be wondering what's beyond the next valley.
Don't get me wrong, I'm all about adventure, discovering other cultures, globe-trotters, explorers, discoverers and all that crap, but people, if we go on like this there won't be anything left to discover, we're all going to end up the same: commercial-consumming, MacDonald's-digesting, shopping-addicted morons (who actually think they're pretty smart and that they got it all figured out), and I'm pretty sure we're already there...
Think about what I'm saying, settle down to some place and stop the bullshit with 'working abroad', you most certainly won't impress me!
P.S: In spite of all this rage against living abroad, I am all for short experiences abroad, on condition you return to a stable point, something people used to call 'home'. (Oh, and I do live abroad, but it's not really abroad since this country has become my new home, those of you who have been following this blog from the beginning must know the complex relationships of hatred and love I've been developping for France ;) anyway I'm here on different reasons :D)
3 comments:
You say that all you hear from your friends is that they’re moving. Then, do I have to understand that I am not a friend of yours? :-) I’ve never heard myself speaking about such nonsense! I don’t remember saying that one day I won’t be here anymore (I don’t mean by my death), that I will move around the world or that I’ll travel here or there! Actually, it’s quite the contrary!! By only listening to the one who want to go here or there (I mean far away from their “nest”), I’m getting tired! Well, it’s more a feeling I feel in my head (my body doesn’t seem to be tired at all).
So, I almost completely agree with you!! I say ‘almost’ because I don’t agree with you on one (very little) point. I don’t think the same way about your conclusion about moving around is bad for oneself. You have to specify the scale of the ‘moving around’! If it is a ‘moving around the world’ it might be bad (I don’t really know as I’ve never really move around the world :-)) but for a ‘moving around in a town’ it would make a lot of benefit, at least for me, a (too?) lazy boy!
I am someone who thinks your way long-ago, I even go further than you! Making a lot of friends is not one of my priorities. But don’t think I’m a misanthropic, or an unsociable guy!! It’s only that I know that one day, we’ll have to take a different path which will lead to the difficulty not to lose the sight of each other. As a consequence, I prefer having only a handful (can I say it like that?) of (very good) friends and keep them the best way I can rather than having a lot of friend and to be obliged to keep some and forget the others. Having a few friends allows me to enjoy their company a lot when I am with them.
You must think that my way of thinking is a bit weird and too different from other’s but I’m the kind of guy who tries his best not to follow the others like a sheep (I don’t know if it is the right expression in English), like a blinker-wearing horse which can’t see what happen around it. I’ll take those blinkers off my head and will make my own opinion about what people do (or don’t do). If they do it right or wrong (according to me).
I’ll end with one of the reason for which people want to go abroad: to improve their English. Do they really need to leave their country (in France I mean) to improve this ‘must-have’ language in a globalization context? Sometimes, they want to ‘waste’ a year or 6 months to improve their English. Notice that I put ‘waste’ between quotation mark, because I think it’s kinda a waste of the friendship people develop toward their friends. Doesn’t it look a bit like a betrayal? A bit, I think.
I know that English is a must-have nowadays. But I don’t think about travelling abroad to improve my English because I know that it is possible to improve it without doing so! I only have to watch English movies or English episodes of Friends :-) and try to understand them. Another way to improve it is to have very kind Romanian classmates ;-)!!
P.S too: To be in the spirit of this blog, I’ve written my comment in English (as you can see :-)). That’s why there must be a few mistakes (as I don’t master this language yet; maybe do I have to go to England or United States or other English-speaking country :-)?). It would have been easier to write it in French but I think that the spirit of my comment is understandable!
Tin, You are just the sweetest! :) And I must say I'm impressed with your English skills! You are so very good! And I do agree with you, moving around isn't bad for you to a certain extent, but there's a limit to all the moving around.
Anyway, know that all that I'm saying is actually a rage against globalization (which I think you must know I'm so against it) and what is doing to relationships. Sure, Messenger is here to save us, as well as Skype and others, but still, relationships fade out when people are so far away from one another... And it's simply too sad. I just wish we went back to simpler, healthier times.
When have we come to a point to say that Messenger, Skype and others are here to save us? Nobody really knows because globalization is part of our daily life. Most of the people live with that, without knowing or trying to know that it's here, thinking that their life is normal.
I say it right now: I don't like messenger at all. I don't really like virtual communication because you can't really express what you feel. Of course there are smiley's, but how many times did I chat and couldn't, for example, even show that I was death of laughing? I don't even speak about many other feelings which can't be 'translated' with a simple smiley!
And how many times I go on msn, seeing more than 2 'connected' good friends, and even don't dare to chat with them because I'm afraid they won't have time to chat with me (time they haven't because they also have friends to chat with)? How many times I go on msn, seeing more than 2 'connected' good friends, and chat with one and forget the others only because it has been a long time I didn't see him? (:-) I don't say 'her' because I only have 3 good girlfriends in my contacts and fortunately, I often see 2 of them and the third one too, well, less than the first two but more than my boy-friends!) I can't remember.
You have a good way of thinking and I appreciate it. However, I think that your wish to see simpler and healthier times coming back will be hard to be fulfilled. But still, keep thinking this way and try not to change your convictions ;-)!
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