by Simon 15 Replies latest jw friends
Up here in Canadia we have a lot of filipino people doing jobs that many other people may not want to do. We often come across them working in low paid jobs at McDonalds or other fast food places or the bottle depot or wherever.
But boy, do they seem happy !
Not only do they always seem to be really hard working and dilligent but also genuinely happy with big beaming beautiful smiles.
They must have some different outlook on life that works great - anyone know what it is?
My wife is Filipino, as are my two step kids. I'm not sure if I'm game to enter this conversation.
A lot of Asian cultures smile for different reasons than being happy.
Smiles, especially in the service industry, are more of a social tool than individual expression.
I dunno, I'm not sure you can really fake a smile like that.
Maybe they are not happy and are really growling at me but I'm reading it wrong.
Where my wife used to work they had a lot of workers from Tailand and many couldn't speak English but they were the same - always laughing and smiling and friendly and kind of understandable despite the language barrier.
Happiness comes from being able to provide for your families.
3 fillipinos rented the rest of the house where i lived. They all worked hard. Weekends, they would have fillipino friends over. There was a lot of laughter and sometimes some singing.
I think its a combination of a culture that puts on a smile as the first part of relating to others. The other part is a kinder, gentler way that parents, especially the mothers deal w their kids, starting from the moment they are born.
S
I lived in an asian country for a while and it seemed the carpenters were the ones with the greatest smiles.
we wondered why? it is a really hard job without power tools and hardwood in the heat.
the reason for the smile?
they had work. as truthseekerIam said. and
for reasons pointed out by jwfacts: I am not sure either.
Is there not a song about oriental smiles in "Madame Butterfly"?
Satanus, right, but when transplanted into a foreign culture, the parenting is not enough.
pro
Thats why i think its a combination of culture and parenting.
S
I asked a relative the same question when I was visiting Philippines. She said they whilst they look happy, on the inside they are not really. Due to the poverty there, they have an underlying depression that they will never be able to afford to do the things that they would like to. However, I have noticed that the culture is very gentle; they have a love of simple pleasures, like family, food, and romantic music and movies. Partly that extends back to being poor and strongly controlled by Catholicism. That gentle culture seems to change when they move to other countries and adopt the local culture. The change takes a couple of generations, as they do socialise together a lot, so keep the culture for some time.
I do not think it is genetic. A case in point if Mindanao, which has a lot of violence due to a 10% Muslim population and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front.
Aw, now I'll feel bad if I think they are really unhappy inside :(
It is infectious - I always come out with a smile on my face (and not just because I have a burger to eat).
