Monday, June 09, 2008

Most Thought Provoking Line I Read Today

""It's hard to live here," says Meldin Morales. "The one thing I like about here is the work. . . . Day after day after day: work.""

This is from an article by David Montgomery in today's Wash Post about the "chain emigration" from Ipala, Guatemala to Langley Park, MD. One emigrant found work there years ago, and his relatives, friends and neighbors have followed in his footsteps. It's the sort of emigration I believe some of my ancestors engaged in back in the nineteenth, certainly it's the sort of internal migration that seems to have lead my ancestors to move from York, PA to Geneva, NY.

Presumably Mr. Morales doesn't mean just "work", but work that pays well ($10 an hour, mostly something to do with building or repairing homes). I wonder how many natives would say the thing they like best about America is the work?

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