I’ve always dreamt of being on Broadway or Hollywood, or maybe some other international red carpet event offshore, basking in the glory I reaped from years and years of my hard work. Then I’d go home to a family of my own in a decent abode you would guess was hard-earned by an accomplished person, built on a fortunate first-world nation. Half-awake, I prepared to chase that dream, eyes set on moving away from here. Then I woke up, realizing that dreams commonly are short-lived footages of rosy fantasies that ignore so many aspects of reality. I decided not to migrate anymore.
Think about it: when you move overseas, you give up bits of your life you deem precious. You put behind the house you grew up in. You throw aside things that bring back memories and experiences that molded who you are. Most of all, you abandon people who treasure you as much as you treasure them only to stand in unknown soil, where nobody knows who you are.
Although we normally leave families and friends when we grow up, it is a struggle for anybody to wake up in a place knowing you are oceans away from what was home to you. Being alone is manageable, but leaving loved ones alone rips you in pieces; for you can address your own loneliness, but you cannot mend their heartbreaks.
On a greater scale, you forsake the nation who raised you to swear your loyalty to another. We slowly lose the people in our motherland who could have helped cultivate our culture. Gradually, it withers away and perishes with hardly anyone to mourn for it when it’s too late. In turn, we replace our identity as a nation and a race with those of others. Colonial mentality is greeted with smiles as we allow it to reside in our brains.
We move out of the country in hopes of prosperity and success, thinking it always gets better out there. We close in towards a better life in foreign territory, but life worsens back at home as the “brain drain” phenomenon takes over. One by one, the best people who could’ve contributed to our society bid farewell.
It would have been acceptable to voyage to another land and stay if for one’s own welfare, like for those who seek refuge due to war, calamity, or any other threat, but in my people’s case, many move out of envy of other nationalities. If we truly want to rise out of a distressing, pathetic state, we must be doing something better as citizens than escaping. How things are in our country reflect the kind of people who live in it.
Damienne Ratana 
You captured it well – “many move out of envy of other nationalities….”
The diaspora is a phenomena that could be traced to a singular issue – poverty – not of the individual but of the nation…. when the rest of the world, then Asia, and then Southeast Asia, become more prosperous whilst the leaders become even richer while rubbing-it-in-the-face-of-the-masses, it becomes an easy decision to migrate, despite the difficult journey to be away from loved ones.
LikeLiked by 1 person
True enough. Let’s hope for the better here in our nation. Thank you so much for your insight! Appreciate it. 🙂
LikeLike