Letters to an immigrant brother

By Franklin A. Díaz Lárez

Are you planning of leaving your country?
Do you want to start a new life in another place in the world?
Do you know what you will face?
A text written in the form of entertaining letters addressed to a brother who dreams of emigrating.
The brother is raising his doubts and questions, and the author answers them one by one in a simple, clear and transparent language, trying so that he becomes aware of the obstacles and difficulties that await him, on the one hand, and on the another, of the multiple opportunities that arise, and that by emotion or ignorance is not able to foresee.

• Language: English
• Publisher: BadPress
• Release date: Jan 18, 2020
• ISBN: 9781071528396

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Letters to an immigrant brother

Franklin A. Díaz Lárez

––––––––

Translated by Aurora Carranza 

Letters to an immigrant brother

Written By Franklin A. Díaz Lárez

Copyright © 2020 Franklin A. Díaz Lárez

All rights reserved

Distributed by Babelcube, Inc.

www.babelcube.com

Translated by Aurora Carranza

Babelcube Books and Babelcube are trademarks of Babelcube Inc.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Reflexion and choice

Permission toenter

Destination. Whichcountry are you going to emigrate to?

Job. What areyou goingto work at? What are you going to live off?

Academic titles and driver license

Xenophobia, racismand discrimination

Shelter, refuge and international protection

Reflexion and choice

No man ever steps in the same river twice

(Heraclitus)

Dear Gustavo:

I've just read your letter and I must confess that it's left me kind of worried. You're telling me that you want to emigrate, that you want to get out of your country, to leave it all behind to begin a new life in some other place of the world.

I guess that before telling me this stuff you have thought it well, that your choice is not the result of a momentary emotional outburst nor a passing tantrum or a temporary difficulty you want to escape from.

We use to associate the problems with the place we are living in, without realizing that earth, as the inert matter that it is, is not to blame for whatever happens on it.

I’m telling you this because of that one time where something like this happened to me. You may remember when I was in love with that girl named Josephine. Back in the day her town seemed to me a paradise on earth. Birds sang happily, the wind caressed my face with sweetness, the meadows, forests and streams looked spectacular and beautiful, people was happy, smiling. Everything was happiness: the scents, sounds, colors and sensations. But as soon as we ended our relationship, all of that changed drastically. I never again heard the birds chirp; the wind only messed with me, it only irritated my eyes and ruffled my hair; the heat bothered me a lot; the forests, streams and meadows became dark, somber, ugly and dangerous places; and the people, instead of always seeing them smiling, began to seem to me bitter, stubborn and unbearable since then. External reality changed the same way and velocity that my moods.

It seems that it all depends on the way we see things, on the lens through which we see them, as they say. Places are there, and will keep being on their spots no matter how hard, traumatic or horrible are things happening to us in them. A lot of times it turns out to be impossible to dissociate the trauma from the place. We think that by getting physically away from them we will also leave the suffered pain behind. We instinctively reject everything that hurts us, and everything that reminds us of it. It’s a way to separate us from suffering and it’s perfectly understandable.

I don’t know what reasons made you take your choice. Anyway, you don’t have to give me any explanations, neither am I asking for them. That’s your business and yours alone. However, since you’re asking me for my help and guidance, I feel compelled to begin appealing the necessary reflexion that you must have had before making your choice. It must be you, and no one else, who must be sure if this step is the one you want to make. It could just be a temporary emotional outburst and later on you will regret it.

Think about how once you have made advancements in your path, nothing will be the same. Everything in your life will change, for the better or for the worst. No man ever steps in the same river twice Heraclitus said once, a Greek philosopher.

I don’t want you to think that with my words I’m trying to influence in your choice. That’s way off the reality. I’ve been through the same thing you want to make now. I’ve travelled the same paths. I would like you to take what I’m saying as subtle suggestions, not like impositions of what you must or mustn’t do. I’m no one to give you guidelines. That’s not what I want.

What I would like is for you to take into account that a lot of times emotions blind understanding.

Remember that time when you came home jumping around in excitement saying that you had found the best business of the world. After just a couple of questions from my part, it didn’t seem so cool to you anymore. They were trying to scam you and if you hadn’t stopped to think