People in Europe experienced inconvenience this week. French air traffic controllers went on strike. Thousands of people faced delays or cancellations of flights. Travel from point A to point B got disrupted by circumstances beyond the influence of the average person.
But what is the average person? Is it those engaged in business headed to meetings and work sites to clinch beautiful deals? Or is it someone on holiday, on visits to see famous tourist destinations, or catch up with relatives to keep family bonds connected? Does ‘average’ imply a ‘good enough’ position in society, the ability to make financial decisions, the luxury of discretionary income, or the privilege of citizenship?
There are others who also faced challenges in their travel plans from France to the UK. What label do we use to describe them? Many people would not use the term ‘us’ to talk about ‘them’ and would rather use words like ‘migrants’ to imply these are people who don’t belong here, wherever here is.
One boat…
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