I'm Switzerland...

Have you ever heard the phrase 'I'm Switzerland'? Have you ever wondered what people mean when they say the phrase?

I first heard about it in Grey's Anatomy. It was from earlier seasons and I think Meredith and Christina was fighting and Burke used the phrase, or something like that, to say that he's not gonna take side and favour Christina just because he was dating her. The second time was just now while watching Private Practice (a spin-off of Grey's Anatomy). Sheldon was giving advice to Addison and he used the phrase 'I'm Switzerland'.

Basically it means 'I'm neutral'. I got the meaning the first time and I've always wondered why but I never bothered to look for the reason. But curiosity got the best of me this time and I looked it up. You can read about it here.

Being a small country surrounded by other big and major countries like France, Italy and Germany poses Switzerland a major political risk. If any one of this countries choose to wage a war against the other, Switzerland could always be used as an ally as it provides an access to the other country. Now Switzerland is one weird country. While countries like UK became UK because of the common ethnicity and mother tongue (I don't want to use Malaysia because I've accepted and am proud of its diversity even if the politicians are complete retards), Switzerland exists as a nation because the people share, according to Wikipedia, common historical background, similar values and Alpine symbolism (they are freaking proud of the Alps even if the french will always claim the Alps are theirs). In terms of language, Switzerland has 3 (some say 4) official languages and they are German, French and Italian (the 4th being Romansh). Now to ensure internal cohesion, that is to prevent people from some area speaking a certain language joining forces with the country with that language as the mother tongue, the government has declared the country to be neutral politically and Switzerland has never been involved in any war internationally since 1815!!! And it's due to its state of neutrality that you could find many headquarters of important international organisations that promote human rights and equality.

On a different note, I'm thrilled to learn that the Swiss Confederation was established on 1st August 1291 and Swiss National Day is celebrated on that date every year. It's my freaking birthday!!! 1st August, that is, not 1291!!! The mere knowledge of it made me think of migrating to Switzerland already.

It wasn't the first time I'd thought about it. I was in Switzerland for my spring break last year and spending over a week in Lauterbrunnen, Montreux and Geneva made me fall in love with the place. The panaroma in Switzerland was certainly breathtaking and the atmosphere was calming and safe. I can really think of myself building my own life in Switzerland working as a surgeon. The view alone would be enough to make me forget how stressful my work could possibly be.

Maybe I should migrate to Switzerland. It's only fitting that I move to a country that, apart from sharing the same 'birthdate', shares my belief of equality and neutrality. If the people of Switzerland can live together in harmony sharing common historical background despite the various official languages, why can't Malaysians put aside their different languages and racial agendas because we too share common historical background? Our forefathers, regardless of their race, all fought together to get the independence we have now.

Maybe I should migrate...