One of the toughest realities of a family of expatriates is, believe it or not, to understand and prosper in the society around them.
There are so many pitfalls in meeting and nurturing people, that the “stranger danger” concept becomes a way of life.
Everyone who has lived away from their country of birth understands this. You are surrounded by strangers everywhere, and any of those can become a problem.
You are in a new place spending your days with strange people, with tastes and cultural norms that seem alien and remote to your own. You try to reach out, build bridges and become accepting of others.
You are alone.
You want to have a network of people to help you adjust to your new reality, and sometimes, have a human connection and a friendship.
You smile at people who are out there to take from you, and give you nothing in return.
You invite people out -expecting a little bit of urbanity and decency- and they take you for a ride and give nothing back.
Sometimes you find people that are ready to destroy you, for no particular reason. Sometimes they try to destroy you and your family.
In 25 years travelling the world, I can count with my fingers the number of good, solid people we have met in our lives. The rest, dozens of them, are not worth the oxygen they breathe.
Very few things move us anymore, but having our trust breached by a “treacherous friend” is one of those things.