lazy sunday reading

I was sitting down catching up on things online while eating pork rinds when I got to the NYT Magazine and found this excellent article on migrant workers and the Philippines: A Good Provider Is One Who Leaves.

Read it. Even if you can't relate to the lives of these millions of people who leave their lives behind just to have better jobs and provide for their families, it's worth the time to open your eyes to a sad situation that many people have to live with.

I'm lucky that I didn't have the impoverished life that the people in the article had, but it still makes me sad because I know how those children feel but at the same time, I know how the parents feel. And I know that people should not have to live that way just to provide what so many Americans take for granted: their children's education, meals, clothing, a better home.

I guess this is why despite being aware of the positive effects of labor migration, despite being an example of the positive effects of labor migration, I am against it. It's time for the Philippine government to stop relying on their unfortunate people to bring home money to take care of their families. A government is FOR the people. It is the government's job to provide food, shelter, education, safety. Yet in the Philippines it's become the opposite. The Philippine government has become too comfortable sending off millions of its people to foreign and unwelcoming lands just to lazily receive their incomes. These corrupt, overpaid politicians need to realize that the people living in the cardboard houses in dirty slums are THEIR responsibility. They need to realize that as they go home to their mansions and their maids.