Proud To Be Australian !

While I wasn't made or born in Australia - I am no less proud to be Australian than anyone who was made or born here !  I chose to move to this country because it was no longer safe to stay in the country where I was born and I have thoroughly enjoyed the move and the lift style that we have here.  It is very similar to where we are from - the main difference is that it is safer.  I can go for a walk, by myself, when it is dark without fear of whether I will make it home or not.  I could leave my daughter at home by herself without fear of what might happen to her.  I can let my daughter drive around at night, knowing that she is relatively safe compared to what she would have been had we not made the move.

Since arriving here, We have embraced most things Australian - we follow league, we are members of the Gold Coast Suns AFL side, we eat lamingtons, we obey the rules of the road and we vote when the elections arre called.  I haven't managed to get into the habit of calling people mate and I cannot bring myself to eat veggiemite - I have tried but I just can't.

I have never been back to the country we left - I have no desire to go there - I am too scared that I will not make it home.  I have to laugh when people ask "Have you been home ?" and then look at me funny when I say "Yes, I was there this morning."  To me this is home - it may not be where I was born - but it is home.  I love living here - I love the freedom to do what I want when I want without being dictated to by the time of the day.

I get upset when I hear people talking about 'how good it was in another country' - if it was that good why did you leave - why do you stay here - why not go back there if it is that good ? But I think people forget about why they left in the first place.  Before we came over we put together a file of horrific things that happened, so that when we got here and we wondered if we had made the right decision, we could look at that file and remember how bad things were and why we left in the first place.  About 5 years ago we threw that file out - it had been in a cupboard for over 7 years and we had never looked at it !!

While I don't have an Australian accent, I AM PROUD TO BE AN AUSSIE !!!

Have a great Australia Day wherever you are and whoever you are with.

TFTD : People forget how fast you did a job, but they remember how well you did it - Howard Newton