An Undesirable Resident

by Haden Webster Ware

Traveling has its difficulties for Haden. The following is a letter he wrote to his Dad with some interesting thoughts about place, country, and home.

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Hey old man,

Just giving you a heads up that I sent you guys a book I’m reading called What Is The What by Dave Eggers. Eggers is one of my favorite young American writers so I decided to pick it up at the airport on my way back to Antigua (Visa was up so I got kicked out of Europe). Every page I read makes me think of you guys and your adventure in Ethiopia along with your generosity with the man you had living with you from Africa. It’s a moving book that I think Nancy – and you – will appreciate and relate to.

As for me, I have been sent home. Despite the immense protests from Lorenzo and other café-bar owners in Florence, I have been deemed, by the wise folks in Italy’s immigration department, as an undesirable resident. They’ll knock down borders for things like Toyotas and cans of Pepsi, but when it comes to people those silly squiggly lines still represent walls. It’s unfortunate that we still don’t have the same rights as Canadian geese.

Reading this book did much to subside my self-loathing at being deported back to the comforts of my seaside home in Antigua. If I can’t con my way into convincing them to let me stay and continue spending money on pinot grigio and café macchiatos can you image the size of the obstacles that face a Sudanese refugee with nothing to his name? My deportation has sent me from one paradise to another; theirs is tantamount to a death sentence. I can’t wait until “birth place” is as inappropriate a requirement as gender, race, or religion.

Strange world we live in. H