Moving to another country – going forward in life or just fleeing from the problems?

Every year millions of people choose to migrate to another country or even continent. They

are hoping for a better life, steadier job, more suitable climate, whatever. There is

absolutely no doubt: there is nothing easy in moving. But aside from relevant but still small

problems like language barrier, adjusting to the new mentality or just making new

acquaintances, a much bigger issue lies under that – the reason for moving itself. Believing

that one has no future in his or her own country is surely one of them. Though some will

call it fleeing from the problems, I still maintain that this is in a way going forward in life

and developing.

I only moved to Germany three years ago and I already had a chance to hear so many harsh

things about me and my decision, which was in fact not easy at all anyway. For instance, a

lot of people from my social circle called it betrayal of my country and are sure that I will

“never feel like one of them”. According to their point of view, I had to break myself under

unfamiliar foreign traditions, rules and mentality of people there, leave my hometown,

parents, relatives and friends and waste so much time learning German which will always

be just a foreign language to me and which I must – not would like to - speak. And all this,

without even ever becoming “one of their own”. Nevertheless, I stood by my decision. In

fact, I never even needed to hear any opposite views - this issue was controversial to me

since the day I have started to think about this possibility. But I still tend to think that

everything I have done to this point is right. I do believe that I will have no future which I

want for myself if I stay in my homeland.

Every year thousands of people emigrate from Ukraine to search for a better life. According

to the website of the Ministry of Finance, the population of Ukraine went down from 54.94

to 41.59 million people in the past three decades. Considering all natural factors like
fertility and mortality, it is still a pretty large number. This might sound very dramatic and

to some extend even egoistic, but I must be honest. I blame the government. The

government who is so corrupt, they don’t even see the boundary anymore, the government

who in no way cares about the lives of people, but only about putting some more money in

their pockets. Some might immediately argue with me and say that if you want to change

something, start with yourself. It is, in fact, a very well-known and often used quote which I

myself have said more than once too. While I still grant this phrase a lot of meaning, I also

realized that I am not ready to spend my whole life fighting for something that will never

come true the way that I want it to be.

I must admit, almost everything I have now is the result of people who didn’t give up like

me when they wanted to change something no matter how hard and impossible it seemed,

in particular, my right as a female to be able to attend university. In this perspective, it

would make sense to stay and fight instead of fleeing. But I have to be honest with everyone

and primarily with myself: I am not capable of raising a revolution, and what even more, I

do not want to. I also do not believe this is something that is going to be possible in Ukraine

for at least another couple of decades. And I don’t want to waste my young life trying to

fight for my rights and justice if I can spend them changing and developing myself to

become someone who might be able to make that change in the place where it is going to

be taken seriously. Yes, waste is a strong word, but this is what I was going for.

Besides everything being said, leaving own motherland is quite a lot to take mentally. It is

about changing life, starting from zero, lots of pressure, constant worrying about if it really

was a right decision and, of course, nostalgia. Especially in times like this, where every

minute of the time spent with the family and friends is precious and you never know if you

are going to be able to visit them again soon. But it is about the future as well. So, in a way

both views are true. Actually, there is no right opinion on this matter, and everyone should
decide it for themselves. The most important thing is to rely on personal thoughts, hopes

and aspirations rather than listening to someone else’s as it is not their life.