Posts
I'm not a very religious person and as the years go by I start to see my own reality. There are things that are true in religion. Commandments, which are pretty much truisms in life such as thou shall not kill, steal, covet thy neighbors wife, to name a few. The commandments are pretty much the same in the Torah as well as the Quran.
Everyone uses the word "bible" today. There are even bibles for rvers and expats in Mexico as well as other countries. New bibles appear every day and it's important to be leary of those false gods. In Mexico, there are unscrupulous people who deal in expats. They like to offer their services to "help" foreigners who are non-Spanish speakers.
I'm not against anyone providing services for newcomers to Mexico. What I am against are people who help foreigners by going around the law. There are areas that are grey and some that are pure black and white. Here are two of those black areas that many expats take advantage of at the urging of these bible gods.
One is the UCD license plates. The plates were originally meant for those in deep rural areas who were considered poor farmers. Now, you can see Mercedes driving around the streets of places such as San Miguel de Allende with these plates. What does that really mean? It means that it is illegal and they have a court-ordered stay to avoid having to follow the law. In essence, these people are avoiding to pay taxes on plates and tag renewal. They can't go far, however, once they leave the city limits or in some cases, the municipality they are open game and some cases can lose their car. You don't hear that part though.
The other, which is morally wrong and can be illegal but recommended by some bible thumpers, is the use of Seguro Popular. It is legal to apply for Seguro Popular as long as you meet the requirements. The requirements are based on income and any expat, who is here legally, and by that means they have met the financial requirements for temporary or permanent residency, pay $600 dollars U.S. per year.
Some of these disciples believe it is okay to advise their followers to lie and cheat on their application saying that they are near destitute. You'd have to be pretty broke, down on your luck, or just plain immoral to use Seguro Popular under those terms which are meant for those who don't have social security and IMSS medical care and are generally in the group listed as "in poverty".
In the U.S. and Canada, people would never even begin to think of doing any of these things because they are not moral and also illegal. There is that saying though, "when in Rome do as the Romans do". I doubt that was ever meant to apply to illegal activity. Just because someone jumps off a cliff, does that mean you should too?
I don't brag much about my Catholic upbringing as it is usually associated with child abuse or some other illegal activity that takes advantage of the poor and downtrodden.
Expats, beware of false gods.
I puzzled for awhile about what kind of comment I would leave after reading this blog post. I had a rudimentary religious upbringing in the United Church which gave me a basic understanding of the bible which to me is just a nice story. My day to day morals were instilled by my parents "don't lie, don't steal, don't cheat and treat others as you wish to be treated." This has been all I've needed to live my day to day life. The people that you talk about in your post who feel it is okay to steal from the social safety net designed for those in need probably live the rest of their life in the same unscrupulous manner. They should be ashamed of themselves but are probably not. A sad situation and a very thoughtful post.
ReplyDeleteHi Kathy. I wasn't sure if anyone would pick up on my post. There are scrupulous people out there that will do just about anything to turn a buck. I get very irritated with expats who feel they are really getting a hang of the culture by participating in corruptive acts where, in reality, it cheats the poorest of the poor by not paying their fair share. SLDS
ReplyDeleteI try to be religious but fail. That said, you're right about all of this. I wasn't raised this way. I'd also be afraid to tempt Karma because it might just make me destitute since I would be faking that. Same for parking in a handicapped space.
ReplyDelete