For You Were Strangers in the Land of Egypt

The Leaping Ibex
Jul 11, 2019
3 min read

I stood there for what felt like forever, although it was probably only 3-5 minutes. With my phone in my hand I was trying to translate the instructions on the screen so I could do the simple adulting task of gassing up my car. I understood most of the words on the screen, but I didn’t know WHY it was offering to reprint my receipt and a host of other random options. How the heck do I get to the “insert credit card” screen??? And what was that one word that Google Translate was saying meant "fairy"?

Finally a voice comes through the intercom in Hebrew: “Do you need help?” “Keeeeeeeen” (yes) I answered in a little girl voice, feeling so...blond. The thing is, you never know if that “help” is going to come in the form of annoyance or genuine helpfulness. Is he about to bluster out of his store and over to the pump and humiliate me for holding up the show by being a stupid American, or was he going to be kind in a “you must be new here” (not as new as I’m going to let him believe) sort of way.

Luckily he was nice, and we laughed about Google translate calling the nozzle a fairy. But he could have come out and just gruffly tapped the correct buttons, sealing my humiliation at not being able to perform even a simple task. You see, while I do need to improve my language skills, it’s a long road. And me not knowing one word, nozzle, was the wrench in my attempt to fuel up my jalopy.

Now imagine every little thing you do carries this stress level: Standing in line at the supermarket, afraid something will ring up wrong and you’ll have to open your mouth to fight it (or miss out on the sales price), messages for parents about what they need to bring tomorrow going unopened an hour because it feels difficult to even read it, hoping nobody hears your accent and tries to rip you off, knowing you seem unfriendly because the inability to express oneself fully triggers introvert behaviour, knowing you stand out and that it often works against you…And for many, add the stress of knowing there are people who hate you for even being here, but you won't know who they are until you bump into them, so stay on your toes.

It wears on you. And it will for many years. And even when/if the language is mastered, it may never be the one you are yourself in, the one you’re funny in, sarcastic, intellectual and nuanced. Finding people who do speak your native tongue will be a breath of fresh air, a chance to speak quickly, without stumbling, to exchange jokes.

While I’m speaking of immigration, which is a very political issue right now, I’m really just speaking about empathy and kindness. Frankly, unless you are literally immigration enforcement, then it’s probably not your job or business what anyone’s status is. Your only job is to just be a decent human and treat others with kindness.

If you see anyone struggling to read a sign, whether it is because of their cataracts or a language barrier, you should offer assistance. You should hold the door open as you go in the store and every other act of just general manners. Don’t say “speak X language because this is X country.” Understand everyone needs moments where they can express themselves easily and freely with a friend. That they might be tired and literally have a headache from “breaking their teeth”, as the local idiom says, speaking the local language.

Offer assistance and empathy because it’s the right thing to do. And because your grandparents or great grandparents may have been in those shoes, feeling out of themselves for the rest of their lives, always a little bit foreigner, so you and your children wouldn’t even know that foreign feeling.

Oh, and don’t put people in cages. That too. Again, not even being political with that one, sorry if anyone thinks that is a political stance.