My Swedish significant other and I have been
looking for opportunities to work internationally. We've discussed moving to
the U.S. (where I'm from), moving to Asia (where I've worked before), or
staying here (Sweden). It's our Decision 2012.
I have
a dissonant feeling about moving home. I have spells of homesickness, which are
frequently interrupted by anxiety and nausea.
I have
recently spoken with another U.S. expat who is completing her first year living
in Germany. She loves living abroad, but she has pressure from her family to
move back home.
"Pressure,"
I asked?
She
answered quite simply that her parents want her to "start her real
life".
"Real
life," I asked, "what's that?"
Let me
clear some things up about living abroad: It's not all one big frat party. Frat
parties are not language immersion classes -- but my life is. Grocery shopping
is a Swedish language lesson whether I want one that morning or not.
Additionally, as an expat we're forced to wear our nationality like a tattoo.
We bear the international brunt of horrendous things said by Fox News, Donald
Trump and Lindsey Lohan.
Regardless,
being an expat is an amazing experience and I told this new expat to keep
traveling. I have watched other expat friends go home to start their 'real
life', and I have yet to see how their life is any 'realer' than mine, outside
of the fact that they are unemployed, paying out the nose for health care and
can easily find Cool Ranch Doritos.
Yet
homesickness still hits me, but while I miss cool summer nights drinking beers
on State and Division in ol' Chicago, I have doubts it's the right place for
us.
Reasons
being:
1.
Bipartisan politics
-
Both
parties have locked horns. There isn't a Republican or Democrat who can change
that.
-
Religion
has found a way to run everything, even though that's exactly what our founding
fathers wanted us to avoid.
-
Our
media continues to point in all directions except at themselves. We need less
Hollywood, more Wall Street and Washington. But for some strange reason people
keep begging for Jersey Shore.
2.
Gender roles, expectations and inequality
-
Women
want equal pay. They also want access to birth control. They want to be able to
have sex for pleasure, just like men.
-
They
are fighting the wrong battle. First, they need to tell their church, their
government and their media that they are done buying into the pressure to have
babies and marriages. They will need to make a strong statement and stick
together. It is okay to be single. It is okay to be gay. It is okay to be in a
relationship but not get married. It is okay to have babies. It is okay not to
have babies.
-
Unfortunately,
this will not happen, because most women don't want to give up the medieval
idea that good looks, legal marriage and babies improve their net worth.
3.
Class system: Blue Collar, White Collar, Gold Collar
-
The
middle class will continue to shrink.
-
What
happened to it being okay to be a construction or factory worker? What happened
to valuing teachers? I want to physically punch someone when they say:
"Those who can do; those who can't, teach." I know some very
successful lawyers, doctors and business professionals that wouldn't last a day
teaching 3rd graders.
-
What
happened to the United States valuing their citizens? Unions -- we need them.
Not everyone is a CEO, and that's okay. It takes more than one person to run a
company and a country, but every occupation has value.
-
These
days, we are taught by the old boomer generation that if you don't go to a
university, you will be poor. People are pushed into universities before they
even know what they want to do. Hence, we have a ton of confused graduates with
Bachelor's Degrees. Most have a very large loan debt and no decent job to pay
it off.
-
Where
are all these white collar jobs to validate the need for all these university
graduates? Hmm.
-
This
explains why we have well-educated university graduates, quoting Shakespeare's
sonnets or the chemistry table, making your grande cappuccino.
-
These
people would have been better off with a hourly job, borrowing Shakespeare's
volumes and Chemistry for Dummies from the library and taking the time after
high school to map out a financial and career timeline that makes sense to them
and their generation.
4.
Rights
-
There
is a lot of talk about 'rights' these days: Right to marry, right to health
care, right to have guns, etc. People are worried about 'too much government
control'.
-
Well,
frankly, I'm okay with the government taking away guns. I don't feel
comfortable with racist bigots wondering around with loaded weapons.
-
I
most definitely want some free healthcare in case these people decide to shoot
me for saying something they deem "un-American".
-
I'm
not sure people should fight for the right to marry -- I think they should
fight for the right to receive these benefits without a governmental marriage
contract.
-
I've
heard conservatives say that we have no right to rich peoples' money. I'd like
to turn that around and say that the rich people have no right to MY money
either, but, unlike them, I'm willing to share it to make a better community,
school and healthcare facility. I'm pretty sure that's why I'm poor and they're
rich.
I
think, in the end, the idea of moving home frightens me. And, I think after all
these reasons listed above, it should.
April
Salchert
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