Blurb of an Alien

By Aqsa Khan

The carrier advises us to arrive at least 60 minutes before the flight departs, but since we don’t  have an electric check in my country we left three hours before. As my mother wept on the car ride, because her daughter was going to a foreign land, I remember I was overjoyed because this foreign land promised me a future that my own land had failed to deliver. 

Once in the US, I laughed at my alien status with all the other foreigners now because even though we all came from different parts of the world we felt right at home. It was our passion, our thirst for knowledge that was driving us and keeping us here while being so far away from everything that we were familiar with. For me, it was also the independence of being whoever I wanted without the fear of being rejected or judged. It was for being a person in real life. 

While this global pandemic has turned us all into just faces on a screen and we grief for the losses around the world of life, of health and routine as we knew it. I want to grieve for the dreamers, not only me but millions of students, workers around the world who left everything in search of an opportunity, in search of serving a greater purpose. Needless to say, there are dreamers everywhere, but they don’t become aliens in a foreign land when a natural hazard strikes or at least they have a community to fall back onto.  

Yes, we all want to be with the ones we love in a crisis like this but air travel is banned. You’re isolated in a place where you came chasing after your ambition, and I think in the crumbling economy nobody wants the extra paperwork that your status brings. You’re isolated not only from the ones that you love but also from doing what you love. The ones you looked for answers are now just as confused as you are. We all look desperately for an answer, for a hope. 

While there’s more pain in the world and not enough resources. All I ask is to be equitable in your future decisions now more than ever. Don’t turn those away empty handed who left everything to be here in search of a better opportunity. Don’t keep filling the bellies of those who are already full, be charitable with your resources, opportunities and kindness. Take a leap of faith for passion and skills rather than for comfort and familiarity.