Why have I left? Why will I go back?

Although from Tunisia, I am also a citizen of the world. I am convinced that the best way to acquire experiences and knowledge is by getting out of our comfort zone, to understand the functioning of systems different from ours, by going into new adventures. I believe that opening to people and the world is the true wealth; and the greatest assets that one can bring to their country (in my case Tunisia) are precisely openness, generosity and knowledge. I am also greatly convinced that those who have gone back to share what they have learned the hard way are, in a sense, those who will allow us to dream of a better future (provided they do not forget where they come from of course).

It's easy to point out what's wrong but not so much to stay out and fight for it. Courageous are those who leave their country for a better future but reckless are those who remain at the front against everything. While it seems clear that Tunisia does not rely on its flourishing economy, the power of its currency or even less on the reliability of its state departments; Tunisia today only relies on its young people, its entrepreneurs and its brains. Whether we decide to see an old lady holding onto her cane, or a young child clinging on a table’s corner, we are what keeps our country standing. Because the only thing which haters cannot do anything against is love.

I am of those who have left Tunisia’s insipid parties, conversations without spans, and shallow relations. But there is a Tunisia that I will never run away from and which I will always miss: which allowed us to live some historical moments; which inspired us; which defended us; which gave us great moments of pride; the one we admire, cherish, the one that gives new meaning to 80-year-old verses each time its hymn starts in unison. And we cannot wait to come back and do our part of the job. And even from a distance, we must remember that Tunisia whether we want to live there or not, is the one we choose. It’s not because we have left that we have to pull the trigger on the nation that educated us. But it’s not because we stayed that we must overwhelm those who made the choice to leave. Because overwhelming from afar has never carried to any credit. It’s easy to stigmatize the millennials and explain that it’s their flight away that condemns our country, it is much less easy to understand that staying is not a solution for them. It's easier to give moral lessons than reasons to come back.

Everyone’s patriotism will allow us to work but it will not work for us. If we wait for the return of brains, we must be ready to welcome them. By offering them a work environment that, if not perfect, would at least be the expression of the will to change. It's time to make everyone's success the priority, to understand the need to create and share, and to stop seeing in each other’s success the shadow of our personal failure.

Whether we have decided to leave or to stay, patriotism is not measured by the number of kilometers. More than ever, Tunisia needs its brain, wherever from and anyway how, we must understand that the first step forward is to stop looking for the culprit and start doing our part to make things better.

Mariem Babbou
English student, UQAM
International Relations
student, UQAM