The Martians Have Landed
Helene Nathanson, our social worker, told my girls a great story... an analogy, really, about what it might feel like to be Liberian and adopted by Americans. I thought it was worth writing down. It not only helped my girls, but it gave me a perspective on what my Liberian kids will probably experience.
What if you were enjoying your life, living in your house, going to school, playing with your friends... when one day, this Martian ship shows up and these smiling Martians come to greet you. They are very nice, they speak English, they hug you and kiss you and give you presents... then they take you in their spaceship and fly you back to Mars. They are still very nice and loving to you, but you are on a strange planet, in a strange house with strange customs. You don't know anything at all about your surroundings, or how to act within this new 'family'. You would begin to miss your old home, wouldn't you? Even if Mars had lots more to offer than your old planet, you would still miss your friends, your school and your old life.
American life is as foreign to adopted Liberian children as Mars would be to you.
What if you were enjoying your life, living in your house, going to school, playing with your friends... when one day, this Martian ship shows up and these smiling Martians come to greet you. They are very nice, they speak English, they hug you and kiss you and give you presents... then they take you in their spaceship and fly you back to Mars. They are still very nice and loving to you, but you are on a strange planet, in a strange house with strange customs. You don't know anything at all about your surroundings, or how to act within this new 'family'. You would begin to miss your old home, wouldn't you? Even if Mars had lots more to offer than your old planet, you would still miss your friends, your school and your old life.
American life is as foreign to adopted Liberian children as Mars would be to you.
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