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2022 - We're not celebrating 4th of July in Ep43
10 Plays3 years ago
Salman soliloquizes on the US Immigration laws, the Denmark mass shooting, and NOT overcoming our fears
Recommended
Transcript
Introduction and Greetings
00:00:16
Speaker
Hey everyone, it's Salman Qureshi.
00:00:17
Speaker
You're listening to the Expat Brad Podcast.
00:00:20
Speaker
How is everyone doing?
00:00:24
Speaker
Happy 4th of July to all my American friends for their freedom.
00:00:29
Speaker
Freedom.
00:00:30
Speaker
Yeah, that's right.
00:00:32
Speaker
The place that is free for everybody who lives there.
00:00:36
Speaker
The land of the free.
00:00:39
Speaker
Not so much for those who don't live there.
00:00:41
Speaker
I think there are some people who do live there and aren't free.
00:00:45
Speaker
And then the rest of us dream of being free when we get there.
Immigration Plans and Challenges
00:00:49
Speaker
I'm in line.
00:00:50
Speaker
I'm not going to lie.
00:00:51
Speaker
I have my name in the draw.
00:00:56
Speaker
No, it's not the green card draw.
00:00:58
Speaker
My brother lives in Dallas and he has applied for my immigration.
00:01:06
Speaker
And it only takes...
00:01:08
Speaker
only takes like about 10 years.
00:01:11
Speaker
So in 10 years, I'll be free.
00:01:17
Speaker
So that's my backup plan about immigration in case everything else goes down south.
00:01:24
Speaker
And I decide if it actually comes through, because I'm about three years into the waiting period now.
00:01:32
Speaker
And with the COVID thing, I don't know how long it'll take.
00:01:36
Speaker
But that's the only route left for a lot of people that's still open.
00:01:39
Speaker
I'm waiting for like Republicans and stuff.
00:01:43
Speaker
Republicans and stuff by Republicans and your conservatives to find a way to go.
00:01:49
Speaker
Hey, man, we got to stop this thing because I was reading something interesting about it.
00:01:53
Speaker
It was it was whose book?
00:01:56
Speaker
I can't remember.
00:01:57
Speaker
Wait, I got to look this up.
00:01:58
Speaker
Like if you've been listening to my episodes, you know that I am super forgetful.
00:02:04
Speaker
particularly when it comes to names, and I have found a way around it.
00:02:09
Speaker
It's called having a computer and Googling your answers.
00:02:12
Speaker
It has really, really helped me.
00:02:14
Speaker
Okay,
Insights on Immigration Laws and Culture
00:02:15
Speaker
yeah.
00:02:15
Speaker
So this guy is called Vajahat Ali, and he's a Pakistani-American guy, a writer.
00:02:20
Speaker
I think he deals with a lot of politics and stuff in the news sphere.
00:02:26
Speaker
And he came out with a book called Go Back to Where You Came From, an autobiography, basically.
00:02:32
Speaker
And he talks about in that book about the history of this immigration law.
00:02:38
Speaker
And just to sum it up, right, I'm just giving you a quick cliff notes or Sal Q notes on what it's about was that they implemented this law.
00:02:50
Speaker
I really should pay attention to details right now.
00:02:53
Speaker
Just saying it sounds like something my uncle said, but this guy's legit.
00:02:56
Speaker
So you can look this up for yourself if you're interested in details.
00:03:00
Speaker
I can't recommend the book enough, by the way.
00:03:01
Speaker
It's a really good book.
00:03:03
Speaker
And again, disclaimer, I didn't read it.
00:03:05
Speaker
I listened to it on the audio book.
00:03:08
Speaker
I listened to the audio version.
00:03:09
Speaker
So make what you want of it.
00:03:13
Speaker
He reads it.
00:03:14
Speaker
I love it when the author reads it.
00:03:15
Speaker
Most times when they're decent enough.
00:03:18
Speaker
Every so often there's an author that decides to read their book and you're like, oh my God, that's terrible.
00:03:23
Speaker
I felt particularly cheated when I was listening to Arnold's and the sample had him read it and then the first chapter he reads it and that's it.
00:03:32
Speaker
Then it's just someone else till it's the last chapter when he comes back and reads again.
00:03:37
Speaker
I feel like I've been cheated a little bit.
00:03:40
Speaker
Anyway, I go off on a tangent.
00:03:42
Speaker
What Jahad says in that book or reveals is this history that the law for the family immigration came about with the hopes of the family.
00:03:53
Speaker
that it would be the Europeans bringing their families over.
00:03:57
Speaker
But instead, they weren't so keen about bringing their people over.
00:04:01
Speaker
We're more of a family community kind of bunch, the brown folks.
00:04:06
Speaker
So the Mexicans, the Pakistanis, Indians, we brought over people.
00:04:11
Speaker
And I think they've done this whole delay tactic of like 10 years and whatnot so that they can stem the flow of Sharia law.
00:04:24
Speaker
Maybe not Sharia law, but you know, they're scared of anything that's not their color.
00:04:31
Speaker
So yeah, happy 4th of July, people.
00:04:33
Speaker
I think someday I might actually be sitting there and celebrating it.
00:04:36
Speaker
Not me, at least my parents will.
00:04:39
Speaker
They're supposed to move there at some point.
00:04:42
Speaker
And again, very sad.
00:04:44
Speaker
My mom's like, you know, what will I do going to the States at this age?
00:04:48
Speaker
I'd rather just live around here.
00:04:50
Speaker
And the rest of us just looking at her going, no, mom, go.
00:04:54
Speaker
Go move out of here.
00:04:56
Speaker
Anyway, little battle, little family battle that we're having.
00:04:59
Speaker
And it's just so weird what people want, right?
00:05:04
Speaker
My wife's always like, you talk like just move into Canada or the US would solve all your problems.
00:05:13
Speaker
And I go, well, you know,
00:05:16
Speaker
Yes.
00:05:20
Speaker
When she first said that, I was like, yeah, maybe I'm just one of those people who are not happy with what they have.
00:05:24
Speaker
And I should really re-look at things and stuff.
00:05:27
Speaker
And then I kind of sat down and listed my main issues.
00:05:30
Speaker
And I went, actually, moving there would help me quite a bit.
00:05:33
Speaker
So at some point, you got to go.
00:05:38
Speaker
We'll figure that out.
00:05:39
Speaker
It's just one of those things.
00:05:40
Speaker
A lot of people are happy on this side.
00:05:42
Speaker
I had a couple of friends tell me they're really happy to...
00:05:46
Speaker
even moved back to Pakistan.
00:05:47
Speaker
And I was like, I don't like to diss on my motherland, but what?
00:05:56
Speaker
Anyway, each to his own, right?
00:05:58
Speaker
I think we want different things as well.
00:05:59
Speaker
Some people are scared about the freedom over there and the stuff their kids will learn.
00:06:05
Speaker
Oh, no.
00:06:06
Speaker
Oh, no.
00:06:07
Speaker
What if they learn something that's not...
00:06:09
Speaker
in agreement with my own values.
00:06:11
Speaker
What will I do?
00:06:13
Speaker
The devil will come and spoil them and they'll just because they've learned about something they'll adapt to it.
00:06:19
Speaker
So if they hear the word drugs or something then they'll start doing it.
00:06:24
Speaker
Some
00:06:25
Speaker
Something along those lines.
00:06:27
Speaker
Maybe it's true because, you know, when I was growing up in the Middle East, a lot of lovemaking scenes were censored, but none of the action scenes were.
00:06:35
Speaker
And now we're portrayed as being violent.
00:06:37
Speaker
So if the stereotype is true, then maybe that's the reason.
00:06:42
Speaker
I don't know.
00:06:43
Speaker
Just saying.
00:06:45
Speaker
I'm just playing to stereotypes today.
00:06:47
Speaker
That's what it is.
00:06:49
Speaker
You know, it's a little sad, though.
00:06:53
Speaker
I just heard about the shooting that happened in Denmark, the mass shooting.
Gun Laws and Cultural Comparisons
00:06:59
Speaker
And one of the guys quoted was saying like, man, it looked like a mass shooting, like a school shooting from the US.
00:07:05
Speaker
And you're like, whoa, that's a really sad way to describe it.
00:07:11
Speaker
If that's what America has become, right?
00:07:14
Speaker
If those are the examples coming together.
00:07:16
Speaker
out about the US is like, oh, well, you know, it's the shooting stuff, the gun stuff.
00:07:20
Speaker
And they you've done it to yourself, folks.
00:07:23
Speaker
It's those gun laws, you know, and some people might turn around and go, well, you know, Denmark has one of the strictest gun laws and they still happen.
00:07:30
Speaker
You know what?
00:07:31
Speaker
It's rare there.
00:07:33
Speaker
That's why people were surprised and shocked.
00:07:35
Speaker
And there's an investigation going on into figuring out how the hell this happened in the US.
00:07:41
Speaker
You don't even bother doing that because you're like, well,
00:07:44
Speaker
He went to the Walmart and bought himself some guns and bullets.
00:07:49
Speaker
That's how easy it is there.
00:07:50
Speaker
I think my personal, like I was shocked.
00:07:52
Speaker
I don't know if I've mentioned this before in my podcast, but the first time I walked into Walmart and seeing people with like just guns around really did shake me.
00:08:01
Speaker
Just the fact that guns were available to buy like that.
00:08:03
Speaker
I don't know.
00:08:04
Speaker
It was so weird from the rest of the world.
00:08:05
Speaker
I think Americans need to travel more and see and go, you know, it's not normal to have these killing machines armed everywhere.
00:08:16
Speaker
You know, it's crazy.
00:08:20
Speaker
Anyway, so, yeah, so I heard about this thing.
00:08:23
Speaker
And I think the other thing that struck me was the fact that they were talking about the guy having a history of mental health issues and, in fact, was on the radar of some things.
00:08:36
Speaker
And, well, there you go.
00:08:38
Speaker
You know, it's if you make it too easy, then there are too many people with those kind of issues and they'll end up.
00:08:46
Speaker
accessing guns and then you have this stuff happen so what are you gonna do huh so I didn't really want to talk about like dark stuff like that but it just flashed in front of me when the news hit and so yeah I guess just popped up I hope people are safe there and just I don't know man I'm just there's too much stuff going around let's just talk about the good stuff you know
00:09:13
Speaker
You know what the good stuff
Wealth in Sports
00:09:14
Speaker
is?
00:09:14
Speaker
The good stuff is listening to these trade talks that are going on in the NBA.
00:09:19
Speaker
They amaze me, like the amount of money people making.
00:09:22
Speaker
Like, I'm good for them.
00:09:24
Speaker
Good athletes should make some money.
00:09:25
Speaker
It reminds me of the Chris Rock joke about, you know, who the real rich people are, are the owners who can afford to pay this kind of money.
00:09:33
Speaker
That's incredible.
00:09:34
Speaker
If I could pay someone a salary, like, you know, put them under contract to say $200 million over the next five years.
00:09:43
Speaker
ability, power to give someone that kind of salary.
00:09:47
Speaker
Imagine how much money I'm making to be able to afford it, right?
00:09:52
Speaker
It's crazy.
00:09:53
Speaker
And like, it's a whole different thing happening.
00:09:58
Speaker
And it's great.
00:09:59
Speaker
Like I said, it's great for them.
00:10:00
Speaker
I mean, some of these guys, all they have to do is be smart about the money they make.
00:10:03
Speaker
And they'll be billionaires soon, probably own teams like Jordan's already doing it.
00:10:08
Speaker
Shaquille O'Neal just made an offer for, who was it?
00:10:11
Speaker
I can't remember, but he's made an offer for some team.
00:10:13
Speaker
I think the Orlando Magic.
00:10:14
Speaker
Yeah, he wants to buy his first ever team.
00:10:18
Speaker
Can you imagine like a player coming in back in the day and then one day becoming an owner?
00:10:23
Speaker
It's great in a way.
00:10:26
Speaker
I think it's player empowerment, isn't it?
00:10:29
Speaker
People!
00:10:30
Speaker
People are empowered now.
00:10:31
Speaker
That's amazing.
00:10:33
Speaker
At the same time, I'm just jealous.
00:10:37
Speaker
Like, I can't, you know, the first time I ever felt about how insane some of the money people make for what they do, like, you know, the difference between the thing between what they do and how much they're being paid to do it.
00:10:53
Speaker
It has sometimes always baffled me.
00:10:55
Speaker
I worked in the banking sector before.
00:10:57
Speaker
And I got to say, you know, because I was in HR, I was privy to a lot of the salaries and the ranges and everything.
00:11:05
Speaker
I've worked in comp and ben as well.
00:11:07
Speaker
So I know in some other industries what the salary ranges are.
00:11:12
Speaker
And you just go, wow.
00:11:14
Speaker
Wow.
00:11:14
Speaker
Like some of it makes you sick, you know.
00:11:17
Speaker
There was this banker always tells the story to people.
00:11:20
Speaker
They're so out of touch sometimes that what happened was that I was sitting with these guys post-recession.
00:11:26
Speaker
And, you know, this is after I'm talking about the financial crisis of 2008.
00:11:29
Speaker
So people have like lost their homes, lost their jobs, just destroyed completely.
00:11:35
Speaker
Their whole life savings have been wiped out.
00:11:38
Speaker
And this guy, this banker higher up, he's just sitting there going, man, you know, two of my house is
00:11:43
Speaker
out of the three houses he owns, by the way, in I think it was in the UK.
00:11:49
Speaker
He goes to my house has lost a bit of value.
00:11:52
Speaker
It's really, you know, I'm so annoyed.
00:11:54
Speaker
And I sat there going, oh, wow.
00:11:57
Speaker
Talk about not reading the room and stuff.
00:11:59
Speaker
Right.
00:11:59
Speaker
But with that kind of money, you just lose sense of everything.
00:12:03
Speaker
And I and for some time I did, too, because when you're surrounded by so much money and people making money,
00:12:09
Speaker
Everything I made felt not enough.
00:12:12
Speaker
Right.
00:12:12
Speaker
Like I felt like, wow, in any other sector, I would have been like, this is quite a bit of decent money and I'm quite happy with life in that particular thing because I was in banking surrounded by people making 10 times more.
00:12:26
Speaker
And then on top of that bonuses and shit.
00:12:29
Speaker
you just constantly feel bad and it's terrible and it probably creates awful human beings.
00:12:36
Speaker
I don't know.
00:12:36
Speaker
Some of or at least really sad, mentally unstable human beings.
00:12:41
Speaker
I don't know.
00:12:42
Speaker
Right.
00:12:43
Speaker
Because there's so many things, even when you work in the sector, like I remember there was this dude who was really high up, a senior guy who dealt with a lot of government stuff.
00:12:52
Speaker
So he's paid extra well.
00:12:53
Speaker
Yeah.
00:12:55
Speaker
And he's
00:12:57
Speaker
car rim, I think, was equal to the price of my first ever car.
00:13:04
Speaker
It was a Mazda 3 that I bought.
00:13:06
Speaker
I just remember going, my whole car costs the same as that one rim.
00:13:11
Speaker
And so he's just spent it on like one wheel, you know, imagine the rest of the car.
00:13:16
Speaker
And so, yeah, like it's just so different from everything else is crazy.
00:13:22
Speaker
And just hearing the NBA numbers right now, the trades, but also the amount of trades going on.
00:13:26
Speaker
Right.
00:13:26
Speaker
It's like every player has decided I got to move.
00:13:28
Speaker
Why wouldn't you?
00:13:30
Speaker
Or, you know, even if you stay within your team, like I if I were in their place, I'd go where the money is because as an athlete.
00:13:37
Speaker
What do you know, right?
00:13:38
Speaker
You've got horror stories about people like Pippen and stuff who just about got lucky at the end but may have ended up with very little because they signed bad contracts at the beginning and long-term contracts instead of good ones.
00:13:50
Speaker
So you got to make money.
00:13:52
Speaker
They're players whose injuries and their careers.
00:13:54
Speaker
There's so much at risk.
00:13:57
Speaker
You got to milk it when you can.
00:13:58
Speaker
So props to them.
00:14:00
Speaker
But if someone's interested in paying me that kind of salary, I'll leave my email address at the end of the podcast so you guys can get in touch.
00:14:07
Speaker
and make me those offers.
00:14:08
Speaker
I'm waiting.
00:14:09
Speaker
I'm a free agent.
00:14:10
Speaker
Not for sports, though.
00:14:13
Speaker
I just kind of wonder what could I do in my life that would pay me the same amount of money as that.
00:14:18
Speaker
And I can't really think of too much.
00:14:20
Speaker
So unless you guys love my podcast a lot and really subscribe and leave comments and stuff, hint, hint, then I don't know.
00:14:27
Speaker
Then there's no way I'm making that kind of money, which means this is going to be an underperforming life or something.
00:14:36
Speaker
God, I always start these podcasts really positive and then these things come out.
Public Speaking and Self-Help Critique
00:14:42
Speaker
You know what I was doing today?
00:14:44
Speaker
I was with this corporate and I won't name them clients, right?
00:14:49
Speaker
And we were helping them come like a bunch of groups, me and some of my fellow thespians and people I work with in the theater with their improv stuff.
00:15:00
Speaker
And we were helping these groups within the corporate to come up with short plays or short performance pieces that they were going to do tonight.
00:15:09
Speaker
So they'll probably be heading there doing it tonight.
00:15:12
Speaker
And they were meant to showcase the values or the behaviors that the organization wants to have done.
00:15:20
Speaker
Just a lot of HR jargon, right?
00:15:23
Speaker
And one of the things that in a way, it's kind of cool, right?
00:15:28
Speaker
I met the MD and he's really passionate about it.
00:15:30
Speaker
And I think it's actually cool that you're looking at it.
00:15:33
Speaker
We kind of cry about companies that don't look into it.
00:15:36
Speaker
So why should I?
00:15:37
Speaker
I'm such a such a bad person now and just like complaining about it when someone is trying to do the right thing.
00:15:44
Speaker
And I was part of it.
00:15:45
Speaker
So it was actually quite nice.
00:15:46
Speaker
I should shut up.
00:15:47
Speaker
All right.
00:15:47
Speaker
And but the only thing that I noticed was there were there's always some people who are very shy, right?
00:15:53
Speaker
And just the thought for them to have to stand up in front of people and perform is stage fright.
00:15:59
Speaker
And they're worried.
00:16:00
Speaker
And you could tell these are the guys who just want to do something in the back at most or just be on the side supporting their team in different ways.
00:16:07
Speaker
And back in, you know, not too long ago, I just would just like look at these people go, hey.
00:16:12
Speaker
Just get over that fear.
00:16:15
Speaker
It's not something you can't learn to be better at.
00:16:17
Speaker
Just go do it.
00:16:19
Speaker
Just get better at it.
00:16:20
Speaker
You can get over that fear.
00:16:23
Speaker
I just feel like I'm such a nasty person for me to think that.
00:16:27
Speaker
Because as I think about it nowadays, I just go, well, yeah, it's something they fear, but it's not necessarily something they want to overcome.
00:16:36
Speaker
You know, like if you just because you fear something, it's all this whole hoopla about like overcome everything, impossible is nothing stuff.
00:16:44
Speaker
But yeah, but do I have a motive to come off?
00:16:48
Speaker
out of that fear.
00:16:49
Speaker
You know what I mean?
00:16:50
Speaker
Like, do I need to?
00:16:52
Speaker
What difference does it make?
00:16:54
Speaker
Take me personally, right?
00:16:56
Speaker
I'm comfortable about my fears about spiders.
00:17:00
Speaker
Yes, I'm scared of spiders, but I have no desire to overcome that fear, right?
00:17:07
Speaker
I just feel bad because I just used to feel like, you know, for people, I guess it sounded like me saying, look, if you have a fear of skydiving, just go on a plane a few times, jump five, ten times after the 15th time, you'll be done.
00:17:21
Speaker
But these people, for them, stage fright is an actual fear as strong as...
00:17:28
Speaker
what I just described about skydiving.
00:17:31
Speaker
And I'm very lucky that I don't have it in the same way and I get to perform and I enjoy it.
00:17:37
Speaker
But I also like, you know, yeah, I'm very conscious that you don't, some of these guys probably are just comfortable with their life and it's not something on their agenda to do and then to be thrust in and be asked to do it.
00:17:51
Speaker
I feel bad about that now.
00:17:53
Speaker
So
00:17:54
Speaker
I forget sometimes that I'm very lucky to be able to perform in front of people, get on stage and just do stuff.
00:18:03
Speaker
And it's just a good reminder to me to not always just be dismissive of people's fears and stuff and just be more conscious of it and maybe draw them out.
00:18:18
Speaker
I've seen people change.
00:18:18
Speaker
Some people have gotten better at it if they continue on.
00:18:22
Speaker
But like you don't have to.
00:18:25
Speaker
Hey, if you fear something, you don't have to overcome it.
00:18:28
Speaker
Okay.
00:18:29
Speaker
Unless it's like something that will affect your life.
00:18:32
Speaker
Like if it was your boss said, look, if you can't get up and do presentations in front of these clients and stuff over and over again, then you're not going to get promoted.
00:18:42
Speaker
I get it.
00:18:43
Speaker
Then you have to find a way to overcome it.
00:18:44
Speaker
There's a desire to do it.
00:18:46
Speaker
But if it's not part of your job, if you were an accountant or a technical guy,
00:18:51
Speaker
and you don't ever plan on going into a career or like into a position where it's needed, hey, forget it.
00:18:59
Speaker
And I'm talking about all fears, right?
00:19:02
Speaker
Like what else do I fear?
00:19:03
Speaker
I don't know if I fear anything else.
00:19:06
Speaker
I'm fearless.
00:19:07
Speaker
I'm like Superman.
00:19:08
Speaker
That's what the problem is.
00:19:09
Speaker
People think you got to become Superman.
00:19:11
Speaker
And that's not true.
00:19:12
Speaker
Stupid self-help books and stuff, right?
00:19:17
Speaker
Just overly positive stuff.
00:19:19
Speaker
Forget it.
00:19:20
Speaker
Don't do it.
00:19:21
Speaker
Be happy about it.
00:19:22
Speaker
All right.
00:19:24
Speaker
That's my takeaway from today's podcast is that there's enough bad stuff happening so you don't have to correct everything and just be at it and live life to the fullest.
00:19:36
Speaker
All right.
00:19:37
Speaker
So, wow.
00:19:38
Speaker
I just completely turned this into a self-help kind of sounding thing.
00:19:43
Speaker
regardless of me saying I hate that kind of stuff sometimes.
00:19:47
Speaker
You know when you first come into the self-help arena or awareness that there's these books out there, some are good, and then you start listening to them, and then it's an addiction, right?
00:19:59
Speaker
So that's the problem.
00:20:01
Speaker
That's what I hate.
00:20:03
Speaker
You need two or three good books.
00:20:05
Speaker
Get yourself motivated.
00:20:06
Speaker
Get your head screwed on right.
00:20:08
Speaker
Get out there and just do it then.
00:20:11
Speaker
And you'll learn along the way and stop relying on people trying to give you the cure for everything.
00:20:16
Speaker
You know what I'm saying?
00:20:17
Speaker
You, I mean me.
00:20:19
Speaker
I went through a real big patch of just doing this stuff.
00:20:22
Speaker
Anyway, look, we've covered a lot of ground.
00:20:24
Speaker
We've covered world events, some sad stuff, some good stuff.
00:20:28
Speaker
And I've given you some free advice from my wonderful life.
00:20:31
Speaker
All right.
00:20:31
Speaker
So you're very lucky to receive this.
00:20:34
Speaker
That's enough because I'm in Abu Dhabi today and I need to get some rest because I've got something...
00:20:40
Speaker
Early in the morning, I got to wake up at 6 a.m.
00:20:43
Speaker
So that's not fun.
00:20:46
Speaker
You guys enjoy yourself.
Conclusion and Podcast Promotion
00:20:47
Speaker
If you're in America, enjoy 4th of July.
00:20:48
Speaker
If you're out of America, then hope for 4th of July.
00:20:53
Speaker
And don't forget to subscribe and leave a comment and leave a rating on Apple Podcasts in particular.
00:21:01
Speaker
That's where my focus is.
00:21:02
Speaker
And I will catch you guys next time on the next episode.
00:21:06
Speaker
Thank you for listening and goodbye.
00:21:08
Speaker
Or as my dog would say, woof.
00:21:10
Speaker
you