November 14, 2005

Pinoy Expatriate

What is a Expatriate?
The difference between an expatriate and an immigrant is that immigrants (for the most part) commit themselves to becoming a part of their country of residence, whereas expatriate are usually only temporarily placed in the host country and most of the time plan on returning to their home country, so they never adopt the culture in the host country. While Europeans or North Americans living in the Middle East and Asia may marry local people and have children, most see no advantage in adopting citizenship of their host countries, usually because they consider their stay only temporary. In countries like Saudi Arabia, expatriate are required to live in segregated compounds, meaning that integration into their host country's society is not an option.
Some Filipinos will say is a Filipino who lives in another country but still loves the Philippines. Some will say a Filipino that work so hard in another country to support his/her family.
Some say they hated the Philippines but they love the Filipinos. Some will bad mouth the Philippines but always visited the Philippines.
Some will say that they're an Expat but they don't know the meaning of being an Expat. Some will say they love the Philippines but never been back for 35 years.
Some will say that they are Filipinos born in other countries but still loves the Philippines even though they never been there.
Some say they love the Philippines but don't know how to speak the language.
Some married westerners and called themselves expat.
And the answers goes on and on and on.
I am not an Expatriate because I forced myself to Immigrate and live in America and become a citizen. Because my mother reminded me of the future of the Philippines.
I married a Filipino-American but doesn't know the culture for her Ancestry.
I wasn't born in a silver platter even though my Mother inherited 200 hectares of land in Pangasinan.
She thought me to work so hard for a bicycle that I asked her when I was 16 years old. Opened my first bank account when I was 7 yrs old. Ate my first dog when I was 5 yrs old and left my country when I was 25 yrs old.
Please just be a Filipino!!!

1 comment:

R. Hipolito said...

The older I get... the more filipino I become.

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