A Perspective from An American Living in Philippines

A friend sent me a link about an article from a foreigner that is living in the Philippines and writes for this web magazine.  I was truly chuffed that he says all the thing he said!  I wanted to share this with you and here’s the first paragraph…written by JohnM

Return to Mayberry?

July 30, 2009 by JohnM

Last week, I had a meeting in Intramuros, and was waiting at Luneta Park for my colleagues to arrive. So, I chose one of the little food stands by the park entrance, bought a Diet Coke, and sat there half people watching and half messing around with my Blackberry while waiting. So, I’m sitting there, and see a group of about 20 kids, very obviously street children, around 10 years old or so,  just hanging around by the side of the fountain in the park. A cop walks up to them, and I’m watching, expecting him to shoo them away or something. He walks away, towards his car, opens the trunk, and brings them a soccer ball for an impromptu football match. The cop joined in, as did a couple of other adults around (They asked me to play too, but I was dressed for my meeting), and they played for about 10 minutes, until the cop had to leave and drove away. I must admit, I was really smiling the whole time I was watching this… It really was a nice scene and truly made my day. It also got me to thinking: This would NEVER happen in the United States. This was something from a different time. A time in the States that I only vaguely remember, and I’m over 40 years old…READ MORE