When Identical Twins Are Separated At Birth!

"We don’t see things the way they are.  We see them the way we are."   

- The Talmud, the central text of mainstream Judaism

A few months ago I noticed that a lovely woman friend from my new expatriate community wasn't posting much to her Facebook page.  When I asked her about it, she said she was hiding some of her post because she was being harassed by some of her "friends" for her beliefs.  She had decided to limit the audience to those who believed similarly.  This woman and I have significantly different positions on religion and politics.  I don't care that we don't believe the same about particular issues, because at the core, we are both kind, trustworthy, and above all, respectful towards one another.  At the end of the day, I love her.  I know she knows this to be a truth, and should she ever be in need of someone to help her in the middle of the night, she knows I would be there.

Until recently, I've seldom used my page as a way of advertising my religious or political beliefs.  I seldom comment on post on these topics.  In general, I write post or articles on topics that share information about world issues that I feel passionate about.  I am compelled to shout out on the devastation plastic waste contributes to our personal health.  I post commentary on the importance of supporting non-GMO seed distributors, ways to encourage the resurgence of honeybees in our gardens, and when I have yet another adult share a horror story from their youth, I will post about the impact of childhood sexual abuse.  I post messages of love, much like I do here on The Broad, and sometimes, I post images of my family or life in Mexico.  

Until I moved to Mexico, I was only surrounded by friends and family who believe politically and spiritually, as I do.  They would mostly find any other kind of post from me as preaching to the choir, or just plain boring.  Here in Mexico, I've kept pretty much to the same general themes, however, I've discovered, that the slightest deviation from these themes, and the suggestion that I may hold beliefs that are in conflict with my fellow expatriates, result in long winded back and forth commentary, resulting in friends back home defending me, and new friends calling me a liar or that my beliefs are wrong.

Now, let me get back to my lovely friend.  She was being bullied by those that believe differently.  I'll admit to being naive.  It is a curse and the very thing that makes me a beautiful person.  I honestly was not aware that there were so many people from my home country who believe in the political and religious ideologies that she practices.  I had no idea that these are the core beliefs of the expatriate community I would be part of when I moved to Mexico.  Perhaps, it has been the same for other expats.  We come to a single point, a tiny dot on the globe, from many points on a large and diverse continent.  We share breakfast at a favorite expatriate owned restaurant.  We meet at a fundraising event for children from our beach village.  We adopt one another, and appoint ourselves caretakers to the newly landed.  We are completely and utterly dependent upon the good will of strangers, and we simultaneously bully one another without mercy.

I have not lived my lovely friends' life.  I am shaped by another family, another God, and another set of gifts.  I choose to love myself, and to love other people.  My friend and I will never carry the same banner, or pray to the same God.  We are friends because we both love others, cry salty tears, have our hearts catch in our throats when we think of our children, and feel blessed that we have taken courageous steps that brought us into another culture.

Looking forward to seeing you soon, my lovely friend!

- The Broad

Pin It Now!