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WISHING
FILIPINAS A HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY
by Michael J. Gurfinkel, Esq.
Mother’s do not like being
separated from their children, even for a short time. A mother
who leaves her small children in someone else’s care to
attend a party or watch a movie, never truly enjoys the occasion,
because she worries about her children most of the time. A loving
mother who leaves her small kids to a daycare is often uneasy,
because she thinks about her children all the time.
Can you imagine the hardship of a mother who is
thousands of miles away from her children, and not knowing when
she’ll be able to see her children again? And yet, thousands
of dedicated mothers make this supreme sacrifice by coming to
the U.S., so that they can provide a better life and education
for their children back home. Many mothers endure the pain and
emotional torture of being away from their children for years,
to earn money to send back home. Both the mother and the children
suffer greatly from the long, and sometimes indefinite, years
of separation. The children grow up without the love, care, and
guidance of a mother.
One of our clients, who was left behind more than
a decade ago, was finally reunited with her mother recently at
the Los Angeles International Airport. While growing up, she could
not understand why her mother left her. But as she grew older,
she realized what her mother was doing for her, just so she could
go to the best schools and finish college. Her mother, alone in
a distant land, had to work long days. She remembers her mother’s
crying on the phone, her mother’s emotional letters, all
indicative of how her mother missed her, too.
The daughter, a medical technology graduate, is
now on her first job in America. She owes everything to her mother,
who worked and endured the long years of separation from her so
she could finish college, come to America to land this job and
open all her opportunities. Whenever she looks around their cozy
and nicely furnished apartment, and at the food on the table,
she knows there is no one to thank, but her mother.
For some mothers in the United States, the wait
for that magic reunion with their children seems endless. Because
of their lack of immigration status, they must spend year after
year away from their children. As Mother’s Day nears, my
heart goes to these mothers. I hope that those mothers will finally
find a way to legalize their status, so that they can spend Mother’s
Day and other holidays with their children who were left behind.
For my part, I am proud and honored to have reunited
many mothers and their children. It really makes the practice
of law truly rewarding and worthwhile.
On this Mother’s Day, I send special love
and greetings to my own mother, who is an immigrant herself, having
left her home country decades ago, to make a better life for us,
her children and her family in America. Special greetings also
go to my mother-in-law, whom I consider like my own “Nanay.”
I also greet all the mothers who have sacrificed, and are sacrificing
the great distance between them and their children in pursuit
of a better future for her family.
HAPPY MOTHER’S DAY!!!!
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