Juan’s story
Ms. Ric
31 Dec 2009
Re: If he is TGIF, why leave?
A native-born American would most likely not immigrate to the Philippines, Mr. Casilang, but he would probably consider immigrating to a country up to par to the standard of living he is used to in the United States if such an opportunity exists.
People immigrate not just for economic gains, but for “happiness” as you aptly mentioned. I concur, a happy nurse, engineer, brother, sister, father, mother would not leave their country. Why would they if they had the opportunity and the means to live a better life and to provide such a life for their family?
Recognizing the fact that it does not exist in their homeland and physically uprooting their family to a foreign land however does not mean they hate being Filipino.
Let’s not confuse the state of being to that of what is. Let me try and explain this in a very simplistic way. — Juan is poor, so he is not happy. Juan has an opportunity to be not poor and to be happier in another country, so he moves to that country. — Now substitute that first sentence with “Juan is a Filipino, so he is not happy…” Do you see the absurdity in that phrase? His being a Filipino is not what’s making him not happy, it’s the fact that he is poor that’s making him not happy.
Every person born regardless of nationality has the right to live a comfortable life or at least a right to improve ones self. Seeking for that birthright wherever it may be is not “collaborating with the Japanese Imperialists” as you pejoratively coined. Far from it, in fact some of these Filipino-Americans are the same people who most likely fought the Japanese Imperialists in WWII, … through thick and thin.
Again, recognizing the fact that Juan is not happy where he’s at and actually doing something about it is what he has in common with most Filipino-Americans. It’s because of sheer will and perseverance that make these people proud Mr. Casilang. They are so proud that they create their own little niches of community and they walk around calling themselves Filipino-Americans. Students, business owners, domestic helps, politicians, veterans, doctors, and lawyers alike, they congregate and use resources found and earned in their adopted country, usually to give back to the country they abandoned, all for the sake of love and of what they left behind.
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