Migration A Matter of Height

The most important step in communication between human beings is the ability to use language. Though, the lack of verbal communication in the first months of life doesnt mean that there is no interaction with the others. A few days old babies pay more attention to higher notes, to chains of different high notes, and not to monotone sounds that keep repeating themselves. sually, the higher an adult person speaks, the more attention will get from the baby. This is their way to interact with others! height. "ven when getting a little bit older, children are still in search for this. Height is represented now by the toys hanging above their bed, by the stories their parents use to read to them to fall asleep and, later on, by older persons around them whom theyre looking up to. They migrate from one beautiful toy to a more beautiful one, from one fantastic story to a more fantastic one, from one favorite person to another. #n adolescence human beings feel the need to migrate to the group of persons with the highest level of everything! beauty, charm, intelligence, sympathy. #n adulthood they want to achieve the highest level in everything! family, wealth, happiness. $o they keep migrating from one workplace to a better paid one, from a big house to a bigger one. This is %ust the human nature! interaction with the environment is a matter of height& interaction with others is a matter of height. Migration is a matter of height. And although this seems to be only a metaphor, which in fact it is, # am still referring to a physical height! a place where one can feel safer and desired, a place where one can evolve, a place where one can earn more money and better opportunities in life. To cut it short, a more promising place than the old one. To illustrate this # will take the e'ample of my own country, (omania. A very short time ago # left it to study for a semester in )ermany. *iving here, # got to know people from so many countries around the world! different cultures, different religions, different ways of thinking. Asking them what they know about my country, # was very surprised, or at least pu++led, that they were all answering me the same! ,-ou (omanian people, are everywhere./ That was the only thing coming into their mind, e'cept 0racula and 1ucharest. And now, # keep asking myself if that was some sort of %udgment or %ust pointing out a fact. #s it a wrong thing that we, (omanian people, are everywhere, or not2 And if it is, whose fault is it2 #f one would try to read something about migration in (omania the first thing one could notice is (omanias status of ,mostly a country of emigration/. There are the ethnic minorities that left (omania on one hand and the (omanian people who had suffered because of the regime or because of the bad economic environment in the country on the other hand. The minorities moved to states to which they had historical boundaries. 0uring the 3ommunist era, despite the harsh e'it policies, people were leaving the country to find asylum somewhere else. Although passports were held by the police and one needed prior approval from the authorities to e'it the country, the flow of people emigrating could not be stopped, maybe %ust diminished. "ven after the fall of the regime, when measures were taken to curb the international travel, nothing has drastically reduced the international mobility of (omanian citi+ens. *abour 4orce Migration 5ffice 678879, the :ational $trategy on Migration 6788;9 these could %ust provide a coherent framework for migration. #n the first three years after the fall of 3ommunism <=8,888 persons legally emigrated from (omania. #n <>>8, emigration reached its peak, with >?,>7> (omanians moving abroad. #t is estimated that @.; million (omanians were working abroad in midA788=. And, of

course, these numbers get to change every day. #t seems that this flow has become selfAperpetuating and, even if the causes behind the massive labour migration have disappeared, a future continuation cannot be ruled out.< Bhat conseCuences did this have on me2 # do not know if # could call this an actual or direct conseCuence, but # feel like being under the stigmata of ,(omanian/, that does not necessarily have an advantaging connotation. Deople from other countries see us as the people who have invaded their own countries, their own environments. And even if # am now a temporary ,migrator/, # feel like being categori+ed %ust the same. Although # am talking now only about pre%udice it is hard to fight against national stigmata. There are also more damaging conseCuences of migration, especially when one speaks about working abroad! from separated families and temporary abandonment of minors to the disturbance of the economical state of the countries that begin to lack workhand. Be cannot blame anyone for wanting something more, but there is another part of the problem. #f everyone would go and look for that something more outside the country, who would be there left to make the country better2 This is the one aspect that makes me think that migration shouldnt be the future. #t disturbs the eCuilibrium between countries and it makes the gap between them bigger. "migrating is maybe the answer for individuals, but it is causing so many Cuestions for the community. And although (omanian people reach something higher by emigrating, the country seems to be sinking sometimes. That is how # see migration on one side, as citi+en of a ,country of emigration/. 0espite all these negative conseCuences, my e'perience from now, that means being an "rasmusAstudent, shows me the good side of the whole story. *iving in another country, especially in a multicultural environment, offers the individual something uniCue. # am talking about that chance to actually reach higher. :ot necessarily because of better opportunities, or because of better paid %obs, but because one is here in a continuous competition with himself, and not with the others. 1eing in another environment as the one # was used to live in, # know # can reach a little bit higher. 1ecause here # am not a (omanian between (omanians anymore, # am %ust a selfAstanding entity. And that can actually make me be better, more selfAconfident, more sympathetic, understanding and more openAminded. 1ecause inside of me, different cultures are somehow mi'ing together and taking me somewhere above being a (omanian without me losing that. This is how # have e'perienced migration, and # may say as a conclusion to this e'perience that # cannot blame (omanian people for ,being everywhere/. # cannot blame anyone for trying to reach the height one wants and deserves. 1ut we could blame the nation and that includes me and every other (omanian for not building the ,height/. #n my opinion, as long as "urope reaches its goals and creates an eCuilibrium between "uropean countries, migration will stop being a problem for nations, remaining still a possible answer for individual.

Focus-Migration, Romania, [http://www.focus-migration.de/Romania.2515.0.htm !"#$1%.