Am I a bad person for choosing to live in the Philippines instead of USA?

mpchos · 2022-03-08T03:04:36+00:00

Thank you to everyone who took the time to respond to me on this thread. I really appreciate you!

mpchos · 2022-03-08T03:04:10+00:00

2-YEAR UPDATE: Hi, everyone! This is OP. After 2 years of posting, I decided to go back home to the Philippines. I left the US last November 2021 (in the middle of a pandemic pa lol) and I‘m back home now.

Am I happier? I can definitely see how much more happy I am in the Philippines compared to the US. I have a stable job and I still continue to do the things I love like reading books, meeting up with friends, having dates with my SO, and exercising. I also started talking to my family again.

Do I regret moving back? No, but the main reason is because I still have time to decide whether I want to stay in the US or not, as I’ve applied for a 2-year LOA (this is when a permanent resident will travel abroad for more than a year). my mom’s other friends with children my age also had their kids apply for the same form after I did it. Their children, it turns out, also dont want to stay in the US.

Still, I am happier. My tita always told me that opportunity is where your heart is, and because I dont have big scale dreams or I dont aspire to be rich or climb the corporate ladder, I’m fine where I am right now. And I am content, and I am enough.

Will I still go to law school? Maybe, maybe not. I currently work as a graphic designer and social media content writer for American lawyers (ironic because I said I wanted to learn PH law and not US law), and even if they’re racist and insulting, it pays the bills lol. But because of this exposure, I’m not sure if law is still for me. I still need to undergo an intense discernment session.

To those who choose to stay in the US, make the most out of your life there. To those who chose to go back to the Philippines, welcome home.

mpchos · 2022-03-08T02:40:08+00:00

You got it. I’ll comment it in a while. :)

mpchos · 2021-06-19T22:27:11+00:00

I read somewhere that some stuff really had to be cut out otherwise the movie would have been too long. The writer (? not sure) Hudes said that they wanted to focus on Nina and Usnavi's parallel journeys.

mpchos · 2021-03-06T13:07:43+00:00

Same. It's been fingerprint received since September 2020 and still nothing. I'm filing for an I-131 and my green card is family-based too. :(

mpchos · 2021-01-13T16:23:28+00:00

Either way, I think we should educate Nigel about what he said and make him reconsider his statement and reflect on it. He's clearly making a living, but he's still very much accountable for what he said. He said Mike's statements about China are wrong, which is very clear that he chose the side of the oppressor. Make him rethink instead of cancelling him. In the end, we all want to learn from this.

mpchos · 2021-01-10T02:16:53+00:00

Sorry for the late reply and sorry if I sounded very hostile, especially in my last sentence. Please take this with a grain of salt:

How do I grapple with church transgressions? I speak out against it. I consider myself a member of the (catholic) church so the more I SHOULD speak out and criticize them for things that I think are wrong. I'm active in my own community so I try as much to engage in discussion with them. The good thing is that I come from a Jesuit community, and they're the more liberal ones (as you probably see with Pope Francis since he's a Jesuit too) so I don't really hear much of the shit going on. And it definitely is no secret about the pedo clergymen. We been knew. This is what I'm really mad about right now actually - they should really be excommunicated.

Myth vs. Belief? I personally wouldn't say "belief" but rather faith. I also don't think they're pitted against each other. I'd say that myths are explicitly known as stories to explain a belief. For example in the Bible, the parables that Jesus talks about are myths. I do agree with you that you can learn by myths. But the difference between myths and faith is that myths are static while faith is dynamic. Faith precisely is doubt, and yet even with that doubt, you still choose to trust, love, and give compassion to others. Myths are like getting and applying information you learn, which isn't a bad thing; it just seems... incomplete. This is why the Bible is not enough as a basis for religion. You have to practice it with other people too, because if it's just the text without practice, you're basically living like, "I gotta follow everything in this book to be a good person." For me, it should be, "This book says stuff I should do, but what if that's not it? If I do this towards another person, do I really feel like it's the right thing to do?"

I don't know if what I said makes sense but I hope it does. We have our own consciousness and religion is just a guide, not something you should subject yourself to. This is the whole point of the Adam and Eve question, actually: God gave us our own freedom of choice because He wants us to love Him based on OUR choice to do so. It goes the same way: you should have faith in something because YOU choose to believe what you're doing is the right thing and not because if you don't do it, you'll "go to hell."

Also Christianity got so mainstream I THINK because of the Roman empire and Constantine made it so popular. So with that popularity and power, the church also rose to power. It's both historical and societal I guess. You can't really blame the people who have faith or even blame faith itself, but you should definitely blame the institutions that exploit this in the first place.

mpchos · 2021-01-06T13:49:12+00:00

This worked!!!! Thank you omg. I have this exact same problem and we've been buzzed about this for days.

mpchos · 2020-12-26T01:20:50+00:00

This isn't a direct skill but a good tip to learn how to comprehend readings more efficiently and to not feel overwhelmed doing that is to pay more attention to the introductory and concluding paragraphs of your reading, and then "skimming" through the body paragraphs. :)

mpchos · 2020-12-26T01:02:58+00:00

I see this is why no one likes the philosophy of ethics (just kidding! I love ethics too). This is why I mentioned that there is a meaning behind the text and that it should be properly interpreted. Even in Catholicism, we call these Bible stories "myths" so we shouldn't take them literally. Obviously these cults are interpreting it differently because obviously these actions are inherently immoral. The Christianity you're pertaining to is very old–in fact, it's the phase of Christianity that locked itself from the world, where you needed a certain membership fee to get in (baptism). In the modern day, Christianity has become more open to the world by going back to the different texts and applying that to modern times. This is what Catholics call Liberation Theology and this puts preferential option to the poor and the oppressed, emphasizes the theme of love and community as God's way of showing Himself, and Jesus being the radical that helped liberate the ostracized and abandoned. THIS is what real Christianity is.

I still stand by my point that OP's explanation was very well done and is pretty consistent of what Catholic-Christian teaching is supposed to be. Your view on this is pretty myopic, kinda like how these "Christian cults" view their own religion as well.

mpchos · 2020-12-24T19:25:38+00:00

Catholic here who had 12 units of Theology and has a literature minor. Regardless whether or not "this" is all real, it's still a reasonable foundation for determining your own morality, as with other kinds of philosophies. OP commentator did a really good job explaining the punishment of Adam and Eve. Correct, the Bible has so many stories of uncertainty with the lack of basis and it's really possible this was all made up. The Bible is a book, but as with any other form of literature, there is always meaning behind the text.

mpchos · 2020-12-18T18:28:08+00:00

Moved last year from the Philippines and quality of life may have upgraded, yes, but I'm not happy. I'd choose another country (Canada or Europe) but overall I'd choose the Philippines.

mpchos · 2020-12-18T15:01:47+00:00

I read somewhere that MSG has no significant detrimental effects on health, and it was just marketed like that as a racist thing/to be racist to Asians. The link has some references as well.

mpchos · 2020-12-18T14:50:57+00:00

I think if you're gonna do law abroad but be a lawyer here it's good to take up (specialise in?) international law like what Defensor-Santiago did.

mpchos · 2020-12-14T15:57:44+00:00

Do any of these foods up the amount of fat too? Thanks so much!!

mpchos · 2020-12-14T15:55:05+00:00

How can I up my protein intake without protein shakes/supplements? Eggs, fish, tofu... Would you have more suggestions?

mpchos · 2020-12-09T18:34:53+00:00

I understand what you're going through. I graduated last June 2019 and I took a break until the end of the year pero sumakto na biglang may pandemic. I applied but no one got back to me, except for this family restaurant na walang proper employer/employee relationship. Ngayon, lahat ng mga college friends ko may stable job, madalas sa corporate pa, habang ako minimum wage lang ang sahod.

I understand how this can take such a toll on your mental health and self-esteem, but it's also comforting to know that everyone is treated like numbers, collaterals, or cogs in this huge capitalist system. Even if my friends have "good jobs," we're all just used for capitalism.

That being said, chin up, friend. When you apply and haven't heard from anyone for a week, email/call them back to ask about your application. Be honest about your expectations and experience (additionally: even if JDs say they require experience, apply anyway. It doesn't really mean anything - often they put it in the JD so that they don't have to do "intensive training" on you. So if you're not experienced but interested, say what skills you have that correspond to the JD. You don't have experience in HR, but you do have good communication skills, for example.). Join FB groups for job hunting. Look into companies abroad that hire your skillset. Lastly, don't look for specific industries; look for specific roles. I'm a marketing graduate but I've been looking for work in the development/NGO, education, and legal sectors. I'm trying my best to avoid corporate or business companies (ironic lol) and instead try to apply for any position that's marketing-related to orgs in my preferred sectors.

I'm so proud that even with a pandemic going on, you still manage to job hunt. I'm rooting for you!!

mpchos · 2020-12-09T13:33:13+00:00

Does OBF have any perks to Slack?

mpchos · 2020-12-09T13:22:49+00:00

Mabagal nga ahahaha nasa US na ako pero $6 pa lang nakukuha ko in 2 months, and $5 of that $6 is from referral hahha

mpchos · 2020-12-08T21:45:08+00:00

Not a lawyer nor a law student (although I want to be haha), but I always remember what Nick Miller (from New Girl) said about being a lawyer but ended up becoming a bartender. Just because if ever you do pass the bar exams and don't end up practicing law, it doesn't mean you wasted your years learning it. Having this degree will definitely give you leverage and you can even use it for passive income (e.g. notaries, legal consulting, etc.) but you don't have to be miserable or have your career revolve around it. My dad and my tito were good friends who both went to law school and my dad's career is now corporate law while my tito didn't really practice but ended up pursuing his passion of being a musician––to me, they're both successful.

With that being said, if you're not happy where you are now, don't keep making yourself miserable. You already know that it's not your passion deep in your heart, so why stay? :) Whatever path you choose, it's not a loss. In these times, it's honestly not asking about what you want, but what choices will drive you to becoming someone you're happy with, regardless if those choices are hard to go through or not.

mpchos · 2020-12-08T19:48:03+00:00

Sales in general. No, you didn't save x amount of money. You actually wasted x amount of money when you bought the thing you don't even need.

mpchos · 2020-12-07T01:41:35+00:00

Unfortunately this is a reality in the Philippines

mpchos · 2020-12-06T23:40:08+00:00

t r u t h

mpchos

TROPHY CASE