Why Are We Poor?

Although the people are "poor" here in the Philippines, I always see the radiant smile of all the folks. When something goes wrong, the culprit always smiles, as if he has found someone to blame for the misfortune. This might be shocking to the West, but it's something which sociologists and anthropologists understand. We are closer to nature this way, although I can see the attitude changing. Modern technology somehow confounds this; it made us more narrow in our views. People get too much from nature, without giving back to it. Floods are common occurences now, especially in the countryside. The culprit? Well.. it's logging, commercial logging! When the flood subsides, we see ubiquitous logs scattered everywhere. A lot of our poverty stems from the exploitation of others, especially foreign companies. Now I don't blame any particular people here, but a lot of these companies are American, and with increasing frequency, Japanese and now even Chinese (no offense meant). The laborers are not paid properly; minimum wage is about 70 cents an hour (if they're paid at all)! Now you might ask, how can the people live? One solution is migration--more than 10% of our population is located abroad. I often joke that in the year 3000, Filipinos will rule the Earth! Maybe you're familiar with the diaspora of the Jews. This is our diaspora as a nation. As Jesus said in the Beatitudes, "Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth (Mt 5.5)."