… for as long, as he knew, he had always wanted to travel abroad, to the United States to be precise. Everything United States had an appeal to him. His bedroom walls are full of posters of all his American Idols, Celebrities, female crushes, sports personalities, Hollywood royalties, name it, he knew them all. He followed the US politics and was forever glued to CNN. He is even an ardent supporter of the New York Yankees. His love for everything America was unwavering. He had been dreaming, planning and saving every last penny to visit and when he had enough money he could not wait. He gathered all his documents together, and applied for a Visa. As far as he was concerned the Visa interview went well, the Immigration officer was even pleasant and they had a bit of a banter. But to his uttermost surprise, when he received his passport back, he was refused a Visa! Shock did not begin to explain his reaction. His was truly confused, ran over the whole process in his head, he could not see what he had said or done wrong. Not one to be easily deterred, he waited the required period and applied again and he was refuse again! No substantial reason was given for the refusal, so he kept applying and kept being refuse. He applied a total of five times without any success. He decided to appeal his refusals and take it to the highest office for consideration. The refusal was upheld and not overturn, the decision was still a ‘No’ you are not allowed entry! He was devasted beyond words, for quite a long time he was uconsolable, his dream and hope of travelling to the USA, he had carried from a young age had been dashed for reasons he had no way of knowing.
One day he woke up, sat on the edge of his bed, with his bent head in his hands. Slowly he lifted up his head and looked at every poster in his room. He walked to each one of them and paid his homage for the last time. With the purposefulness of a decisive man, he removed every single poster and folded them neatly, gathered all his magazines, books etc about travelling to America, and put them in a box and got rid of everything. He came back home and reasoned that he is not a citizen of the United States and as he has been refused entry there is nothing he can do about that. However he is not a man without citizenship, he is a citizen of his own country where he is fully appreciated, welcome and accepted. He reprogrammed his mind and focused his attention on getting to know, appreciate and support his own and he lived happily ever after.
There was this young lady that moved from up North to the South for employment reasons. The company was heavily recruiting and had a number of new recruits from different part of the country , so she was not the only new recruit but the only one from up north. Every one was new, every one was trying to find their foot. She was keen to make friends given that none of her family or friends from back home was around. So she reached out to a number of people, tried to do small talks, invited them for coffee, to the pub etc, basically did all she knew to do to show herself friendly and interested, but she noticed that all her efforts were not rewarded, no matter how hard she tried. She went home, reflected on the situation, decided to up her antics and make more effort, but the harder she tried, the more rejections she got. Meanwhile she noticed that little friendship groups were forming especially amongst those from the same place and she was left out. She was deeply hurt and despondent. She love her job and was doing extremely well at work, her bosses were very please with her. Whilst she very much wanted to make friends amongst her colleagues, she quickly realised it was not happening for her. She decided to brace up, face her job squarely and found other avenues for friendship, she reconnected with other friends back home via social media, she joined the gym, local interest groups, volunteer to mentor young people and to assist elderly people in the community. Before she knew it her life and social diary was so full, she had no time to notice and lament the lack of comradeship at work.
Sometimes in life we long so badly to be part of certain things going on physically around us or even far from us. We pay are dues, extend the right hand of fellowship, do all we know to do, but for reasons best known to them and clearly unknown to us, we are just not given the right of inclusion. And when this happens, there is only one thing left to do, to dust off the dirt from our feet and move on, in the best possible way we know.
In International law, it is illegal to make anyone stateless or without citizenship, and while there is a small group of people without any citizenship most people have their citizenship, a place or country they can call home. The drive is to end statelessness for all. This concept can be applied to each individual seeking acceptance and the right of inclusion. Whilst our immediate interest group might not give us the right of inclusion, as individuals we are not ‘stateless’, tribeless or without citizenship, it is matter of understanding that our tribe does exist and finding our tribe or our country. When we find our country the right of inclusion is automatic until then we are strangers or and pilgrims in another man’s land or seeking entry and treated as such, we can be refuse Visa, right of inclusion. There is no need to force our way through closed door or be sad about it, definitely not where human beings are concerned. Not for a group of men, whose breath is in their nostrils.
The right of inclusion is not to be forced! Know your citizenship! Find your tribe!
Beautiful Ivory 