I would like to say I have always possessed true grit but that would be a lie. I am a privileged white woman who has been awarded every opportunity. Where I faced difficulty ,pain and misery I have never experienced poverty, discrimination , or have lived in an oppressive political culture that devalued me as a woman, mother or person.
I have grown enough to see this as a fact and I know how privileged I have actually been and eventually as I reflect my own true grit life experiences I owe a debt of gratitude to those Immigrant and Refugee individuals who had the courage to tell me their funny and often very painful and private stories of how luck and true grit got them safe passage to Canada .
This amazing country Canada who protects not only its citizens from oppression but also gives those people living in oppression all over the world a chance to make their dreams of freedom a REALITY!
When I am faced with some first world problem these are some of the stories I remember.
Like the Kurdish lady who told me the story of how she came to Canada how she had to escape and arranged marriage to a man she did not know . How when she was only 10 years old witnessed and survived the Kurdish war where she and her aunt collected dead bodies of their beloved sons and uncles so they could be buried .
How the new to Canada Chinese lady I met didn't speak 5 words of english taught me friendship has a universal language and it doesn't matter what your native tongue is love is love and that says everything. How she would hold my hand when we went shopping for vegetables and meat . How she taught me the best cuts of meat for asian style cooking and to never trust the butchers choice always chose for yourself. Just like her body , she believed she had a choice to keep her precious number two child and at 40 years old would never consider an abortion and sacrificed everything she knew and loved to come here to Canada to have freedom over her body and a new baby to love.
How a young client from the Middle East told me how it took him a year in Canada to realize how he didn't have to walk around angry and afraid anymore. He told me there is much love around him and even though he experienced evil he is not evil and prays one day his heart will heal.
How I went to get the best Donair on the Planet and asked the lady if she would make it for me Kurdish Style . She looked up from the cash register with tears in her eyes and grabbed my hands and kissed me on the cheek crying thank you!She was thanking me for remembering her beloved people. Asking me a million questions how I would know of the Kurds? I told her the Kurdish people suffering will never be forgotten . Lots of tears on this one because I know what the Kurdish people have endured throughout history and even today .True Grit!
Lastly the real scary drug dealer who came to Canada as a refugee from Cambodia who by the age of 17 was already an enraged militant killer. How he was saved when he was given an opportunity to come to Canada. How when he got here he had no family ,no language no schooling and no job prospects . This story has a sad ending but I am forever grateful for the openness and trust he showed towards me. I am also grateful to bare witness to true grit no matter what the outcome.
I hope when you think about your true grit experiences or stories that have touched your heart that you remember those people who have suffered pain , discrimination ,and war and poverty and starvation who though it all are surviving because they possess an amazing quality called true grit . Examples are everywhere right in front of us .
I Salute YOU!
and I
Thank You
xo
Jessica James
