I know that as a person born in England, and now living in Canada, that I am privileged. I have, after all, never known hunger. At least, not real hunger, where I have had no food for over a day, and I have no idea when I will be getting my next meal. And I whine and complain about taxes, and the government, and politicians. But in reality, I have a good life. I had a good life in England, too.

It occurs to me that I might not be able to give good advice to someone, say, from  Ethiopia, or The Philippines even. But if we take away the radical cultural differences and just stick to basic thinking, then I can certainly give some idea of my own thinking on the subject of immigration, from an emotional viewpoint. 

To leave your own country is to leave what you know and love, except you might not realise how much you love the place, however hard things might be at times. A vacation is one thing, but once you make a new life, then you are trapped in a limbo situation of eternal dissatisfaction. As the years pass, you will take the new things, and they will become accepted as part of life.

So, you reach a point where your loyalty changes from your country of origin to your new country. You can remember some of the good things about your old country, of course, as well as some not-so-good things, but if the new country is any good at all, you will have part of your heart there. Then there can be no return. To return will cause sorrow at leaving the part that has your heart. You can never ever again be fully content with your country of residence, whichever one it is, because to move, or to stay, both mean suffering a loss.

Economic immigration is the name given to people who emigrate from their own country, and immigrate into their new country just to have more money, together with all that it brings. Perhaps we are all economic immigrants, when we go to another country for a 'better life', unless we are fleeing from persecution.

But on reflection, I am now old, I have no riches to speak of. And I have not had too easy a working life compared to the situation in the UK, or indeed other European countries. A single week vacation per year, then 2 weeks after the first year of work. Maybe 3 weeks after 5 years, 4 weeks after 12. Mandatory overtime at weekends when I had made plans. And all for what? I have never had enough income to fly to Cuba, or Spain, or any other discounted destination. But, then, I have always had other things that the money was spent on, with seldom any returns other than keeping others happy, or maybe making them sad or annoyed by me running out of funds so that I can give no more.


If I had life to live again, I would probably not go away from England. I would probably, in the same situation, just dump the first wife so that the spending could be under control, or maybe find a second wife like the one I have, who works hard, and I would do so without leaving England. What I am saying here is that if you choose to leave your own country because of dissatisfaction with it, then take a close look at yourself and your situation first, and make sure that you will not be taking the problem with you to the new country.

If you happen to have relatives in a richer country than you are in, then it is probably a far better idea to get some assistance in setting up a business, the only thing being that you have to be sure that it is a true business, not just one where someone gives you the capital to set the business up, then you pocket all the income with nothing saved for re-investment or expansion. A true business will, once running, provide funds for it's own future. To buy, say, a taxi with money from an overseas relative is OK, provided that you do not then need a new one in 3 years time. To do so is not running a taxi business, it is being the receiver of large charity funds that would be better invested in a more reliable place. The key factor is not the amount of money you earn, it is the amount you have left after all the bills and family requests have been filled.

Anyway, just some thoughts, that's all.

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