tlcorbinWhat Immigrants know that we've forgotton.
May 28th 2007 06:38
Category: No Category
During the course of many years, and more frequently in recent months, I have, while holding court in a wide assortment of pubs, endured and listened to the painful wailing, sobbing and moaning of so called hard working 'Mericans befuddled over the apparent successes of '..those -blinkin-foreigners'. Y'know, those that came to the US of A and stole their job(s). Taking the very food from their mouths, deprived them of their spot in the welfare line and elbowed their way into that fancy, upscale, 2 bedroom, single bath, dream house that they themselves were ball eying and saving their change to buy. Their bitching usually having some version of the canned retort, " ..hell, they can't even speak 'Merican".
I spent some time pondering this fete accompli, because for the most part, when the foreigners came, it was usually a done deal; they were going to make it! They were going to succeed where I and the other peons I knew, couldn't. I talked to Vietnamese, Chinese, Russian, Hmong, Cuban, Thais, Germans, Japanese, Filipinos, freaks, geeks and other nomadic nuts that I encountered during that period of my life, searching for answers.
When I went to Viet Nam in 1965 on my first visit out of the country, I was excited about the trip, (the excitement was short lived and misguided). After several weeks of ship board travel and retching our innards out, we stopped in Okinawa, and stayed there for a brief period of time recovering from the stench of barf and foul socks; we were soon training for duty that loomed in our future. While there, I learned about the life of a farmer in that country. When I returned to Southeast Asia later, I continued with that study and learned a great deal more, enough to shut my moaning and groanin mouth and to get pro-active with the living of my life. Slowly, things began to change. I discovered what they knew: you can't live life in default mode. If you want to succeed, get proactive and live your life by deliberate choice and action. Most of us in this country live in a default mode and our sense of entitlement keeps us trapped in a welfare mindset. But hey, lets explore what failure means to virtually every one of those folks, in their home country, and it will shed light on my assertions.
Lets define failure as these folks described it , and as I viewed it first hand over seas:
1. You don't work, you don't earn money, cash rules
2. The daily wage in many of these countries for skilled construction labor is under $10 a day
3. There isn't any source of free money from charities (the rich wind up with it)
4. There is no welfare
5. There is little help from social services
6. There is no food stamp program
7. You must pay for housing up front
8. There is no social security
9. You pay for medical up front
10. There is no Medicaid
11. You pay for education up front
12. There is no free education
13. You pay for utilities or use candles for light, and wood for heating or cooking
14. There are no laws mandating stable utility prices
15. There are virtually no labor laws, unions or minimum wage as we know it
16. Failure in those countries can mean you stave to death, live in a shack without facilities, heat, water or electricity, or live under a bridge where everything you own is subject to pilferage-including your personhood, all without hope of real aid
17. Affordable personal transportation is usually a bicylcle or motor bike
18. Autos and fuel are to expensive for most working people, insurance an impossible dream
19. Without personal savings, you have no hope of retiring successfully
20. You work until you die or beg on the streets
21. The economic caste system: there are degrees of rich - but no degrees of poverty stricken poor, no real middle class, the rich prey upon the poor
22. This list does not begin to demonstrate how the poor are preyed upon by their own government in the form of extortion payoffs, dishonest merchants, and dishonest employers who don't fully pay their employees or staff keeping them as endentured servants (yup, slaves)
Lets define their assets:
1. They know intimately about the items listed above and it is burned deeply into their psyche.
2. There are no entitlement mindsets; again, they know first hand the effects of the items above.
3. Language: most speak a local language and several regional dialects in addition to the 'Merican English that many vociferous US citizens and other folks are so critical. For example, my best friends English is excellent, especially if you listen. The problem is one of no regional accents that apply to their 'Merican, and besides, it's a 5th language! Not exactly the simple language skills of most citizens. We 'Mericans tend to speak two languages; piss poor English as a primary language and crappy slang English as a second language. Consider this point when dissing an immigrant whose speech is difficult to follow; they can function with their language skills in several countries. How would most of us fare in our southernmost continent or in the French speaking areas of our Northern neighbor, or Spanish south Florida?
4. Work ethic: they know a real simple tenet, 'No work, No eat'. The employers in their countries demand more than a full measure of work for full measure of pay, period.
5. Compare that to the 'Merican entitlement work ethic: where's mine, I showed up? Can I get a draw?
6. They are willing to do anything that it takes, usually as a family unit, to survive and thrive, such as:
* work menial jobs
* work more than one job
* educate themselves
* learn a new language
* learn new work skills
* set the egos aside
* work for the common good of their families
* work as in concert with others
* budget their earnings and get by with used cars, house, furnishings
* avoid eating out, frivolous spending or vacations without a purpose
7. What they have learned about the US, Canada and other welfare countries:
* In these countries they will have help virtually forced upon them
* they can retire on our social security
* they can get free medical help
* they can get free primary educations
* they can get cash from our welfare system
* they can get housing assistance
* they can get food, clothing and home furnishings from charitable groups
* they can get an hourly minimum wage that nearly equals their daily pay at home
In, summation, they have learned that failure for the most part, has been eliminated from the spectrum of obstacles they must face. Why not(?), because here, in the USA for example, you have to make a deliberate effort to fail, where failure means you succeed and live, and failure means you die in a slow torturous manner. Because in this country, some well intentioned social group will shove assistance down your throat whether you want it or not. In that environment, how is failure possible?
Without fear of failure, we should all be authoring screaming success stories. In their home country, illegals are treated very harshly; they are detained in harsh prison conditions, physically abused, robbed and then sent back. So where is the fear factor for them? Gangs, drug dealers, warring warlords, wars..they have all been there and have done that. They can sleep peacefully here, even in our slums, because they know of a worse place to live.
Yup, I get it now, I no longer wonder why so many decent folks are willing to break our laws and sneak into this country.
I spent some time pondering this fete accompli, because for the most part, when the foreigners came, it was usually a done deal; they were going to make it! They were going to succeed where I and the other peons I knew, couldn't. I talked to Vietnamese, Chinese, Russian, Hmong, Cuban, Thais, Germans, Japanese, Filipinos, freaks, geeks and other nomadic nuts that I encountered during that period of my life, searching for answers.
When I went to Viet Nam in 1965 on my first visit out of the country, I was excited about the trip, (the excitement was short lived and misguided). After several weeks of ship board travel and retching our innards out, we stopped in Okinawa, and stayed there for a brief period of time recovering from the stench of barf and foul socks; we were soon training for duty that loomed in our future. While there, I learned about the life of a farmer in that country. When I returned to Southeast Asia later, I continued with that study and learned a great deal more, enough to shut my moaning and groanin mouth and to get pro-active with the living of my life. Slowly, things began to change. I discovered what they knew: you can't live life in default mode. If you want to succeed, get proactive and live your life by deliberate choice and action. Most of us in this country live in a default mode and our sense of entitlement keeps us trapped in a welfare mindset. But hey, lets explore what failure means to virtually every one of those folks, in their home country, and it will shed light on my assertions.
Lets define failure as these folks described it , and as I viewed it first hand over seas:
1. You don't work, you don't earn money, cash rules
2. The daily wage in many of these countries for skilled construction labor is under $10 a day
3. There isn't any source of free money from charities (the rich wind up with it)
4. There is no welfare
5. There is little help from social services
6. There is no food stamp program
7. You must pay for housing up front
8. There is no social security
9. You pay for medical up front
10. There is no Medicaid
11. You pay for education up front
12. There is no free education
13. You pay for utilities or use candles for light, and wood for heating or cooking
14. There are no laws mandating stable utility prices
15. There are virtually no labor laws, unions or minimum wage as we know it
16. Failure in those countries can mean you stave to death, live in a shack without facilities, heat, water or electricity, or live under a bridge where everything you own is subject to pilferage-including your personhood, all without hope of real aid
17. Affordable personal transportation is usually a bicylcle or motor bike
18. Autos and fuel are to expensive for most working people, insurance an impossible dream
19. Without personal savings, you have no hope of retiring successfully
20. You work until you die or beg on the streets
21. The economic caste system: there are degrees of rich - but no degrees of poverty stricken poor, no real middle class, the rich prey upon the poor
22. This list does not begin to demonstrate how the poor are preyed upon by their own government in the form of extortion payoffs, dishonest merchants, and dishonest employers who don't fully pay their employees or staff keeping them as endentured servants (yup, slaves)
Lets define their assets:
1. They know intimately about the items listed above and it is burned deeply into their psyche.
2. There are no entitlement mindsets; again, they know first hand the effects of the items above.
3. Language: most speak a local language and several regional dialects in addition to the 'Merican English that many vociferous US citizens and other folks are so critical. For example, my best friends English is excellent, especially if you listen. The problem is one of no regional accents that apply to their 'Merican, and besides, it's a 5th language! Not exactly the simple language skills of most citizens. We 'Mericans tend to speak two languages; piss poor English as a primary language and crappy slang English as a second language. Consider this point when dissing an immigrant whose speech is difficult to follow; they can function with their language skills in several countries. How would most of us fare in our southernmost continent or in the French speaking areas of our Northern neighbor, or Spanish south Florida?
4. Work ethic: they know a real simple tenet, 'No work, No eat'. The employers in their countries demand more than a full measure of work for full measure of pay, period.
5. Compare that to the 'Merican entitlement work ethic: where's mine, I showed up? Can I get a draw?
6. They are willing to do anything that it takes, usually as a family unit, to survive and thrive, such as:
* work menial jobs
* work more than one job
* educate themselves
* learn a new language
* learn new work skills
* set the egos aside
* work for the common good of their families
* work as in concert with others
* budget their earnings and get by with used cars, house, furnishings
* avoid eating out, frivolous spending or vacations without a purpose
7. What they have learned about the US, Canada and other welfare countries:
* In these countries they will have help virtually forced upon them
* they can retire on our social security
* they can get free medical help
* they can get free primary educations
* they can get cash from our welfare system
* they can get housing assistance
* they can get food, clothing and home furnishings from charitable groups
* they can get an hourly minimum wage that nearly equals their daily pay at home
In, summation, they have learned that failure for the most part, has been eliminated from the spectrum of obstacles they must face. Why not(?), because here, in the USA for example, you have to make a deliberate effort to fail, where failure means you succeed and live, and failure means you die in a slow torturous manner. Because in this country, some well intentioned social group will shove assistance down your throat whether you want it or not. In that environment, how is failure possible?
Without fear of failure, we should all be authoring screaming success stories. In their home country, illegals are treated very harshly; they are detained in harsh prison conditions, physically abused, robbed and then sent back. So where is the fear factor for them? Gangs, drug dealers, warring warlords, wars..they have all been there and have done that. They can sleep peacefully here, even in our slums, because they know of a worse place to live.
Yup, I get it now, I no longer wonder why so many decent folks are willing to break our laws and sneak into this country.
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