In most western countries there is a heated debate on how to legally handle the immigration of people from other countries. There are "desired" immigrants, mainly those who bring special knowledge and know-how to the country and "undesired" immigrants or people in desperate search to find a better life. And then there are people who are refugees looking for political asylum. In Europe most of the "illegal" immigrants are coming from the countries of the former eastern block and of course from African countries. In the United States most of the "illegal" immigrants are coming from Latin-American counties crossing the border between Mexico and the US. Even in Asia you have the migratory movement of people from the poorer countries to the richer countries. So "illegal immigration" is happening everywhere, it is the natural effect of a rapidly growing population in the world and the increasing gap between rich countries and poor countries. So making a decision as a citizen of a poor country to migrate into a rich country is driven by the sheer need to survive, I mean literally, it is a decision whether you are going to live or to die. Unfortunately this huge challenge has become part of the political struggle for power in each of the richer countries and a lot of demagogic rhetoric is applied to win over the voters. Just about anybody has an opinion about it and many agree that illegal immigrants should be treated as criminals! And I ask you: Is it a criminal act when you fight for your life, when you do whatever it takes to survive? (By the way: In our society we call those people "warriors" who do whatever it takes to succeed and we encourage it.) Who are we to judge these poor people? But aren't there "bad people" as well, coming with these immigrants into our countries? Oh yes, there are...it's about the usual percentage we have in our own population as well. Instead of looking at the effect, looking at the immigration as such, we would be better off to look for the cause and go to the roots. The developed and rich countries played a major role in the last couple of hundred years to exactly get us into this situation. Now it's time to pay the bill and we will pay it one way or the other...no exception. We can either invest millions and millions of the tax-payers money to erect a fence and a wall not unlike the infamous "Berlin Wall" or the Iron Curtain, or we can invest this money in creating real jobs in those countries and keep the people there. The Wall will not protect us; it just gives some people a false sense of security. Believe me the immigrants will come anyway and in ever growing numbers. So don't kid yourself and believe that a fence is a solution! And we should not forget that many "extremely low paid" jobs are done by illegal immigrants thus contributing to our economy. And why do we have such jobs? Because our society is driven by the idea that everything must come down in price constantly, forcing companies to slash costs wherever they can. Most easily this is done by firing people or "outsourcing" these jobs. As long as we as a society are not willing to pay the price for the desired quality, we are cutting off the branch of the tree we are sitting upon. Many will argue that this means to export "our jobs" and have unemployment growing fast in our countries. Don't kid yourself: Most of the traditional jobs are already gone, actually whatever job can be "digitalized" will be gone sooner than later. Does the "Bangalore" sound to you? It is a city in India where i.e. a lot of our tax declarations are already prepared. We can either choose to actively shape the way of our future creating opportunities in the poorer countries and thus jobs for all these people or we can react and build a fence. Either way we pay the price, the question is: Do I choose to make an investment with a possible return or do I choose to just add to my already high cost? The world has changed dramatically and our society is going to be transformed whether we like that or not. Transformation is never an easy process but it must be done and I prefer then to be in the driver seat and not with my head in the sand hoping for the best. Integration is the way, not separation. Freedom and Peace are our highest goods and as it's said in the constitution all people are created equal. Let us then bring Peace and Freedom to these countries by helping them with our expertise, our knowledge and know-how teaching them how to think and not what to think. Let's give them a hand and help them develop their countries and their societies the way they like it. Can you imagine the huge amount of knowledge, know-how, expertise and wisdom accumulated within our people? How many people are already unemployed who could easily become experts in their specialty in the poorer countries? And how many people in retirement would love to share what they know? How many of us are going each and every Sunday to church and pray for Peace and Freedom? How many of us do agree every Sunday at church that we are all created equal, have the same rights and that something must be done to stop poverty all over the world? And then after church we go back into the usual political discussions? Why do we then go to church in the first place? What about our integrity? We all know that the time has come to act and solve the problem so why not beginning right now? What is it what holds us back and keeps us in the illusion of our political discussions? The reason is that our thinking is based on fear and obligation! Fear as we all know has a paralyzing effect on human beings and never ever gets us where we want to be. Wouldn't it be better to come from a place of love as we all promise when we are at church on Sundays? Now it's your turn to decide whether you want to go on and live in fear. It's your turn to decide if you would like to take affirmative action standing up and making your voice heard. You and only you choose and create your life; nobody else does it for you. Transformation takes place anyway, but you decide the level of pain you are willing to accept. Walter H. Groth Institute for Life and Career Transition www.truelifepupose.com |
