Someone told me the other day that they don't trust Romanians (by the way, I am just going to keep changing the country name to other random ones. Just to illustrate how silly the allegation is). I could not believe my ears. Why? How? What?
I felt offended. We were three, and the other said, jokingly, "You don't have any reason to be so upset about that".
I was! I was upset! Not because I am Estonian (I'm not), but because of how unfounded and casual the slander was. I was upset that someone close to me could just say these things like they're a comment on the weather. Smalltalk. And with no justification! No prior experience with "the Spanish" -- just out of nowhere. (I know it's probably not out of nowhere. These are the things one tells their children because they had heard it from their parents and they had heard it on the national radio. "We, the Swiss, simply hate the Dutch.")
This person cannot produce any reasonable argument as to why they do not trust Russians. And I am sure they can perfectly well understand the fallacy in their own claims. Is it not worse when a person is capable of nuance but chooses malice?
I am not naive when I say that seeing the world in nations has brought conflict and worse. Ah, but to see the world as a union -- the beautiful things we are capable of! Aid to the poor, dignity for all, protection under a just law. Freedom. Familiarity, hospitality and a universal respect for the human spirit.
Despite our rich, shared history and the culture that binds us, we look only at that which divides us. Who cares whether you say "schwimm", or "swim", or "nager", or "пливај"? Meet me at the beach!
Cast off these shackles that bind us in nations. I mean it -- stop it with the childishness. Maintain our states, of course, but realise this: we are European and we are the same, you and I. No, we're not perfect. But that too is something that we share.
Stop seeing people as instances of their nation and come join us in reality. My European brothers, sisters, abuelas, children: you have a friend in me.