In the building where I live, most residents are immigrants from different countries.

At every strata or property meeting, the same pattern repeats. Almost all the attendees are local natives. The majority of actual residents those who live here every day rarely show up. As a result, repairs that are neither urgent nor necessary get approved again and again. Money flows out of everyone’s account, while many of us never truly use our chance to speak.

At first, I wondered why. Was it indifference? A lack of responsibility?

Later, I tried placing myself fully on the other side. If this territory were “mine,” I would likely divide attendees into two quiet categories in my mind.

One would be “foreigners.” That word, in this context, carries a kind of benevolence. If they struggle to follow, I might explain more, offer extra patience.

The other would be “outsiders.” Not hostility. Something subtler. As if thinking: you don’t really need to understand everything. We, the hosts, will decide and inform you afterward.

That was when something clicked. Many people are not disengaged. They have simply sensed that this space was not designed for them.

Language becomes an invisible threshold. It is not about intelligence. It is about how expressive ability is mistaken for depth of understanding.

Someone who is razor-sharp and deeply thoughtful in their mother tongue may sound hesitant or simplistic in another language. Their image shrinks automatically. They get interrupted. Overlooked. Treated as if they “don’t quite grasp the situation.”

Some have been dismissed before. Others anticipate it will happen. For those with strong dignity, this gap is harder to bear than absence itself. So they choose not to attend. Not out of irresponsibility but to avoid standing in a place where they are technically owners, yet must make themselves smaller.

What truly pushes people out is often not policy. It is the quiet sensation of not belonging.

And that feeling is rarely intentional. It accumulates silently in the seams between language, culture, unspoken rules, and power.



—— XC Scribbles · 壹佰壹拾壹 CXI 🧱