Safe Haven Now in Svalbard, Norway

                       Imagine living in a place where there is little crime, everyone has a job, and everyone has a home. It is perfect; the ideal society for the whole world to see and follow its examples. This place is Svalbard, Norway. In the newest Upfront Magazine issue, the article “No Job? Get Lost!” by Andrew Higgins, states that this territory is a very safe and stands out of the rest of Norway. Only six police officers attend the only jail cell in all of Svalbard, and everyone leaves their belongings unattended, sure that nothing bad will happen to it, even though everyone owns a gun. Everyone has a job and a permanent home; a big difference from the rest of Europe. Throughout the article, Andrew cleverly shows that this part of Norway is the best, compared to the rest of Norway, and the world.

            Cleverly Higgins provides the readers with facts and loaded words, to enforce his claim and convince readers that he is correct. Take for example, when he says that unlike the rest of Europe, this act of banning unemployment and homelessness was to ensure that no one “freezes to death.” In a place where it snows all the way up to summer, it seems great that the government is doing this. Yet the “freezing to death” seems to over exaggerate, yet fits so well within the article. “Get cold”, or even “get sick” seems like a more realistic way of talking, but “death” makes us admire and feel proud of this government. It makes us feel like the government is a hero, saving the lives of the citizens from the ferocious claws of coldness. Also, Andrew writes that Odd Olsen Ingero, the governor, says that, “[It] is a very quiet and law-abiding society”. Providing this quote from the governor, the leader, and someone important who lives in this place, is meant to convince us that this place is even recognized as great by its own leaders. If he knows all the statistics, then most likely it is safe and credible to hear, that the citizens follow the laws, from his mouth. Finally, he states that “No serious crimes have been reported so far this year…” giving us the feeling of reassurance for this place. This place has no serious crime to worry about, just little solvable ones like shoplifts and “reckless driving”.  Their police attend 100 cases a year, while we in N.Y.C already had 332 homicides since December 29, not counting other crimes such as robberies, assault, abuses, and more. These pieces of evidence and words, that quickly make simple sentences bolder, make us feel and believe that Svalbard truly is a safe haven.

            All in all, I really do agree with Andrew with this place being a safe haven. His evidence did get to me in various ways. The trust the citizens all have with one another is incredible. Here in N.Y.C. I’m sure that not many are willing to leave their personal belongings vulnerable to a whole throng of strangers. Another place that got to me was where Andrew said that immigration is largely blamed for the rise of crime rates in various places, yet in Svalbard 1/3 of the population are immigrants and the crime rate is still low. After reading this article I began to wonder, why is it that many places including the United States cannot manage to be a place similar to this. I then realized that it doesn’t take laws against unemployment or homelessness to change the world, from its dark self to its best possible self. It isn’t much of the governments’, of all the countries, fault either; it is our fault, the people. Had we only stopped being so self-centered and took a bit of our time to think of what we can do to contribute to the world, to contribute to the homeless man’s/woman’s situation, to contribute to those who lie on hospital beds at this instant, to contribute to those who are suffering economically, or to contribute to anything or anyone else who is not in a great state of being right now, instead of ourselves. What a great place we would be living in, and life as well. Now, what can you do to make the world a better place to live in?