The Filipino Diaspora

I brought my friend to the movies yesterday. I asked her to choose between two movies - "A Very Special Love", or "Wall-E". Although she wanted to watch A Very Special Love for a long time, she opted to watch Wall-E instead. I asked why, and she said that is is also a love story. And yes, there was this cute friendship and love story between Wall-E and Eve. They were very different from each other. They were two different robots, each on a different mission, but they chose each other, and worked on one common mission. And I ain't spoiling that for you. Hahaha!

But what struck me most in this movie is the Captain of the Space Station Axiom. "I don't just want to survive! I want to live!" he said. He was referring to his decision to go back to Earth (which was, at that time, a wasteland), to re-cultivate it, to take care of it, and to make it alive again.

That reminded me of the speech of Patricia Evangelista, "Blonde and Blue Eyes" (2005). She says:

"Seen this way, the Filipino Diaspora, or any sort of dispersal of populations, is not as ominous as so many claim. It must be understood. I come from a Third World country, one that is still trying mightily to get back on its feet after many years of dictatorship. But we shall make it, given more time. Especially now, when we have thousands of eager young minds who graduate from college every year. They have skills. They need jobs. We cannot absorb them all...

... In a few years, I may take advantage of whatever opportunities come my way. But I will come home. A borderless world doesn't preclude the idea of a home. I'm a Filipino, and I'll always be one. It isn't about just geography; it isn't about boundaries. It's about giving back to the country that shaped me."

This is my plan of life - next year, our family would migrate to Canada in search for greener pastures. In fact, my brother is there earning bucks already, more than what most experienced office workers earn here! We would be taking part of the Filipino Diaspora... but I would want to help my country. I want to give back to the home that shaped me. Once I have saved up, I would create opportunities for employment in the Philippines. That would be my contribution to society - not by being a whelp in a foreign land, but by cutting open the bondage that holds the poor down from living a better life. I don't just want to survive. I want to live!






links:
http://archives.free.net.ph/message/20040524.023616.52908d66.en.html
http://commons.wikimedia.org/