An ESL blog

I think everyone has the inner desire to prove them selves better than others. What ever the culture; what ever the color of our skin, it’s the basic nature of human kind. In every society there are class differences according to the financial status. Even between the close relatives there are comparisons with their possessions and achievements. Is it all because of our inner motive to prove ourselves better than others?.

I guess we all face insult from those who think they are better than our selves(I play soccer well, Look at my dress, I am smarter than you, We are richer than you…)in life at some point. But usually we avoid those who brag too much about them selves.

Once I get to this country I faced a different kind of people. Their behviour which shook the core of my personality. I was in the edge of believing that I am worth less. I couldn’t come out with an answer to all the questions and doubts in my mind?. All the traditional common values seem equal with the other people out there who make me feel inferior with their actions and speeches.

Are their parents richer?, Any racial differences?, Are they well educated?, Isn’t our family habit and manner not good?. Are they smarter?, Am I lacking in any skill?. Are their family invited here by the Canadian prime minister?. No we are all same from a same community who came as refugees to this country to escape a brutal war. Nothing special in us as a whole we are same, then why these people behave like this?.

All came to light when I heard this “Those guys are FOBs?”. I researched what is FOB. Here is the wikipedia definition for FOB.

In the article it clearly says about the offensive part:

The term “FOB” has been used with offensive intent, often to those with a foreign accent or ethnic style of dressing. Depending on the person’s attitude to the culture in question, he or she may or may not take offense at these statements. The term may also be used by people who themselves were immigrants years ago, in a way turning the insult once hurled at them onto the new arrivals, and in so doing emphasizing their own progress in assimilation or improved language skills.

Compared to world poverty, Iraq invasion, AIDS and terrorism it is not a big issue, but I know youngsters who confused them selves about their goals and purpose of their life by this kind of peer pressure. For those who come to this country in their teen age it is a real problem. But it’s all in our attitude. Other people cannot make us better or worse.

If a person who came to US in his 21st with little English can become the (Arnold Schwarzenegger)Governor of California why we can’t do more.

We can’t say being proud of one self is not good. We can be proud of our achievements. I believe that being different is one of the driving force behind some of the people’s success. But I don’t understand the concept of making others feel bad because they are newer to the place. The big stone sitting in front of my house which stays longer in Canada more than I do.

It was the worst killing in America’s History. On April 16th Monday 32 people at Virginia Tech were killed by a student from the same institution . It was a very tragic incidence, but nobody knows the answers for the similar incidents happens here. One part of the world suffers from war, in this part of the world with so many opportunities to grow why a young mind choses this path.
Two things about this killing arose many questions in mind.

A true hero sacrificed his life to save his students. Dr.Liviu Librescu is 76 years old from Romania a Holocaust survivor. In US president’s words,

We saw this courage in a teacher named Liviu Librescu. With the gunman set to enter his class, this brave professor blocked the door with his body while his students fled to safety. On the Day of Remembrance, this Holocaust survivor gave his own life so that others may live. And this morning we honor his memory and we take strength from his example.

Among the immigrants in Canada;Cricket and Soccer are the most favourite sports but Hockey,Baseball and Basket ball are the most famous sports among the main stream population. But in recent years there are many Cricket,Soccer teams and leagues blooming among the immigrants. During th Soccer World Cup Season it’s amazing to see vehicles with Colorful flags of various nation from Portugal to Brazil.

But world cup Cricket doesn’t get much attention as Soccer does. I came across a helpful tool for Cricket fans. It’s a firefox addon. It updates the scores of your favorite team in the status bar of your firefox browser. You can change your favorite team with a single click. Here is the link for download the addon.
If you don’t use firefox. Download it here.

Toronto is one of the most diverse cities in the world. One obvious thing anyone can notice is that the name boards of each stores. The language that was written on the board changes from place to place when you drive along the streets of Toronto and suburbs. It changes from Arabic to Gujarati or from Tamil to Greek. The Little Italy, China town are the well known names for the small areas of the Toronto, and there are lots of places without specific names but condensed with people of same community. We can hear many different languages and different accents of English when just walking through a mall. It’s simply amazing.

Nowadays we hear a lot about integrating into the main stream, and I don’t think it will ever happen.There are so many issues that nobody wants to talk about raised from these differences. Will there be a time people look at different community and take them as integral part of their own?. In work places and schools , it is very obvious to see people of same community gather together and help each other.

In this article the author discuss about this issue and a possible solution.Start a diversity book club

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John F. Kennedy