Connections

There's been a lot of uproar in the corporate media and over social media about migrants, most of it deplorable and shameful. It's the dehumanization of people for cynical political ends and to their collective shame masses of people have bought into it; people who frequently post appeals or articles against animal cruelty are now posting and commenting on the most appalling things. On the whole these desperate souls (migrants) flee horrors and endure hardship and dangers in the hope of a 'better' life only to find themselves being exploited and abused; I suppose 'better' is quantified by the point from which you began. Just imagine that! I was pondering the above whilst sat under a favourite forest leviathan and thought about the connections broken through migration, from family, from friends, from neighbourhoods and from the land.  On that last point I thought about my connection to the land, knowing and understanding the trees, the flora and fauna their uses and habits, where to look for what and when, feeling the turning seasons. I could sense the forest around me. I tried to imagine how I might feel dislocated from MY land. For a moment I really felt a oneness, a closeness to everything around me, a deep and intimate connection to it all. I first experienced a similar feeling as a young teen at Birdoswald Roman Fort on Hadrians' Wall in Cumbria; I remember standing looking down over a densely wooded slope which ran down to the meandering Irthing River and having the strangest feeling that I wanted to be part of it, not live there but actually be part of it. Years later I came to understand that I am part of it. How dislocated, how removed and set adrift must these people feel separated from friends and family, and removed from the land they knew and bore them. I can't imagine how they must feel, can you?

Our narrative around immigration has been intentionally distorted and distilled down to money and fear by the media. I'm certain in most cases that it's more complexed than they'd like us to think. How many immigrants would be happy to live in the land which bore them if we didn't rape their frequently resource rich countries or use their most fertile land to feed ourselves or support their despotic governments for our own geopolitical aims or if we just stopped making their lives so shit and untenable in their own countries, then maybe they wouldn't be so desperate to risk their lives and leave their homes. Few people really want to leave their homelands, I know I wouldn't, most just want the opportunity to live.