If you were two miles away from a place where you know you would have a better quality of life, would you move there - despite being admonished not to?
Having lived two minutes from the Mexican border:arbitridiesiraeMay 1 2006, 18:41:20 UTC
Part of me says yes. Part of me says that if I do it, that's not significant enough to encourage everyone else to do it. Part of me says, everyone else is doing it so why not? No harm, no foul. And part of me says, Hell, I'm an American, so why the 'what ifs'. Then a great part of me knows that if I were to do such a thing, because the quality of my life is very important to me, then I would do everything within my power to work toward a legal status within this new place, because a life of shame doesn't seem to be of great quality. I would be ashamed of illegality. I would do everything within my power to embrace the ideals and philosophies of my new place and not fight against it, or seek to harm it as some--not all, not a majority--have. And I would work toward the betterment of that place, not just the betterment of myself. It is easier for someone to be pulled down than it is to pull someone else up. Perhaps the same is true of countries
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Re: Having lived two minutes from the Mexican border:ricochet_rabbitMay 1 2006, 19:00:07 UTC
If you were two years away from a place where you know your quality of life would be greatly affected (for the worse), would you not try to call for change - despite hurting the feelings of others?
We in Canada have a saying: when America sneezes, we catch a cold. Everyday my quality of life is affected by senators flouting NAFTA in order to plug "job security" to the average American. And Americans have not the faintest clue.
I do live two miles away from the border. If I wanted to, I could just walk across the border and pretend that I'm an American. Nobody would know the difference &mash; as most Americans don't know the difference between an American accent and a Canadian accent. Especially at the border. But you see, I shouldn't have to be an American in order to have the quality of life I want. And I refuse to be an American just to have a few extra cents in my pocket. To a Mexican who lives by the peso, however, their situation is much more desperate than mine is
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I agree with your proposal. And I, too, believe that the Mexican situtation is far more desperate than that with Canada.
You mentioned, however, refusing to move to America to add a few cents to your pocket. While I realize the difference in earning and in cost of products in Canada, I know quite a few Canadians that make more than I, at 20, and that make more than my mother, at 45. You don't have to move across the border for a life of better fiscal quality than mine. Not every non-immigrant American has the highest paying job that seems to represent the American ideal. Of course, here in America we have a better chance at working toward that. If living with NAFTA is a way to preserve that opportunity for my children, as well as myself, then I'm for it.
If quality of life is determined by the value of the unit of currency, then we all should move to Spain right now.
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We in Canada have a saying: when America sneezes, we catch a cold. Everyday my quality of life is affected by senators flouting NAFTA in order to plug "job security" to the average American. And Americans have not the faintest clue.
I do live two miles away from the border. If I wanted to, I could just walk across the border and pretend that I'm an American. Nobody would know the difference &mash; as most Americans don't know the difference between an American accent and a Canadian accent. Especially at the border. But you see, I shouldn't have to be an American in order to have the quality of life I want. And I refuse to be an American just to have a few extra cents in my pocket. To a Mexican who lives by the peso, however, their situation is much more desperate than mine is ( ... )
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You mentioned, however, refusing to move to America to add a few cents to your pocket. While I realize the difference in earning and in cost of products in Canada, I know quite a few Canadians that make more than I, at 20, and that make more than my mother, at 45. You don't have to move across the border for a life of better fiscal quality than mine. Not every non-immigrant American has the highest paying job that seems to represent the American ideal. Of course, here in America we have a better chance at working toward that. If living with NAFTA is a way to preserve that opportunity for my children, as well as myself, then I'm for it.
If quality of life is determined by the value of the unit of currency, then we all should move to Spain right now.
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