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Linh Dinh's avatar

Hi everyone,

Helena Lambert via Flickr just emailed me this:

You've been invited to join Russian Girls

L-LA has invited you to be a member of Russian Girls. L-LA's message: Dear linhdinh99, As we are witnessing right now the genocide of ukrainians caused by russian army with silent approval of russian people, we here at Flickr must react somehow. The problem with russians is that they now think their army of rapers and serial killers should have won the campaign if their military and intelligence leaders hadn't been corrupt to the bone. There are no signs of repentance whatsoever. There is a number of russian groups and photographers, who never expressed their attitude towards the horror their army brought into a peaceful country. Let us pressurize Flickr to suspend all activities of russian groups and photographers. If you back up the idea, post an image of a toilet bowl into this group, russians will understand the hint. To find out more about this group and to accept or decline this invitation, click here: https://www.flickr.com/groups/russian_girls/

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JustPlainBill's avatar

Hi Linh--your comment "What we do have some control over is the salvation of our own ass, that is, we’ve been cornered into thinking like refugees" mirrors a thought I have more and more often. But at the same time, unlike the typical refugee, the feeling is growing on me that there is really nowhere to run any more, even if one is inclined to do so.

I recall some thoughts that Dr. Gary North shared once about leaving for another country. Paraphrasing from my admittedly failing memory (I read this many years ago), he thought it was a poor choice for most people, since they would find they were doomed to be forever strangers in an alien land, where their inability to speak or fit in like a native would always mark them as outsiders. For himself, he preferred to stick it out, come what may.

I suppose that of the US-born, the ones with the best chance of navigating this kind of life change would be the young; the older one is, the more difficult the adjustment.

Dr. North's belief probably reflects his awareness of the fact that the vast majority of those born in the US cannot function in any language other than English. Obviously, if one is of mixed heritage and/or is comfortable in another language, you have a big leg up and more good choices.

This leads me to wonder how difficult it has been for you to get by in your own travels. Obviously you are comfortable in both English and Vietnamese, but you have been to many places where neither is the native tongue. Do you have any difficulty?

Thanks for another good post!

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