It makes me happy to see that others enjoy what I enjoy.
Vicente Molina Foix in this piece in El País writes about riding in the Madrid Metro:
“I like to see the juxtaposition of various skin colors, and hear the melody of incomprehensible languages, as the train of the future approaches on the rails of life.”
Here is a man at ease with one of the biggest changes to Spanish life in the last few decades. He realises that this country is becoming one great human paella with a tasty mixture of ingredients.
Those Catalans and Spaniards who make the effort to appreciate the benefits of migrants from across this odd little planet will be doing little more than opening their senses.
The continuing mixing of cultures is one of the great success stories of human history and closing ourselves off from the results of migration is as pointless as trying to ignore the music from a neighbour’s radio drifting into our ears.
Migration in Europe will not end, though it has slowed down somewhat in the last couple of years due to the Great Recession.
The human animal that adapts best to the changes in its surroundings will continue to be the human animal that thrives.
[This blog was also published as a Letter in El País ENGLISH EDITION WITH THE INTERNATIONAL HERALD TRIBUNE on Saturday, 10 August, 2010 under the title "Savoring the melting pot."]
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