In Feb I wrote about the amount of economic privilege all Americans have. In March I wrote about the extremely poor conditions in which people around the world work to produce in expensive items that we in the US consume (really wage theft - working for $1 a day, etc.) Each month I asked us to keep these things in mind, to consider different consumer patterns etc. But in this month's post I want to contemplate what it would mean for us to live as if we were actually connected to people living half way around the world who work "for us".
I remember once a few years ago putting on a sweater and then having the amazing obvious but penetrating thought: "someone made this for me." (This is not like the joke about a pre-schooler being asked where the apple they were eating comes from and their saying: "the grocery store".) On some level I confess I have operated most of my life as if sweaters come into existence completely made in the shopping mall, and that my computers, and furniture, cars, etc do as well. I have two sweaters that were knit for me by someone who loves me and I'm clear where those came from. When I stopped to consider this I realized that materials were gathered together and made into fabric, and then someone ran some sort of machine that created pieces and someone else (more well off) had designed it. And in some final stage of production someone sewed together pieces. I noticed as I considered this that these were all people in other countries and probably poor and people of color. So when I go shopping and look at different options - thinking about what they look like, different colors, the rest of my wardrobe, and how "affordable" each item is, I am missing the fact that the cheapest "finds" are probably made with the cheapest labor, probably represent the most suffering. However, the only place I know that had clothes actually made in the US "American Apparel" was "expensive" because of labor costs and just went out of business last year.
What if I lived as if...there were real people serving me, real people making everything I consume, real people suffering if the work conditions there are poor? It would not change the choices available to me. On one level hundreds of choices for every product - but in this globalized economy actually little to no choice to buy a product not made in other countries and under poor working conditions. When I was a child it was a thing where many progressives would only buy "union made" - that was thought of by some as them being "clickish" or over the top pro-union, but in fact it was a way of trying to avoid buying things that were made under abusive working conditions and thus keep the pressure up for good conditions. However, shortly after achieving the highest level of unionization in our history, the globalized economy started with it's "race to the bottom" of out sourcing of jobs to the poorest countries (that paid the least). And those with means benefited by being able to buy even more, less expensive stuff - and those who had been middle class lost jobs and lost economic ground.
So while I don't have a way around globalization - it seems like a starting point would be to have in mind the real people who make the things I buy. To offer a silent prayer of thanks, to hold the intention that they become fairly compensated for their work. To in the instances where I can make choices that support justice to do so - so to buy fair trade chocolate, coffee or bananas instead of "regular" ones produced exploitatively. To use some of the "privilege" I have as part of the world's 1% to pay for organic food so that it is produced in ways that are less destructive to the earth. To look at the information at the Enough Project website mentioned last month to at least buy electronic products, etc at the fairer end of the spectrum (knowing it is still not enough, but at least a step.) This also means that the furniture in my home is actually wood rather than processed woods because it means the wood is from the US and that it has been made by a US carpenter and not with a lot of off gassing products. It means that I'm trying to buy more clothes that are made out of organic cottons (less hard on the earth) balanced with more second hand clothes (so less production and less expensive, unlike the organic cotton. It means that I will consider buying things made at craftfairs (very expensive) because they are not made under abusive work conditions. Because they are more expensive I will buy less items. And I will keep remembering the real wealth I have in comparison to most of the world's population.
When I have watched period piece movies where people in lavish extravagantly embroidered and silk, etc clothes get in horse drawn carriages where servants drive the carriage, serve the food, do the chores, etc I think "how did they live like that?" just walking past these servants as if they were not there, taking what they did with little to no acknowledgement, having probably some awareness at some points of those people's struggles and yet just shrugging those off. Some how the class gap is so obvious to me in those cases. And yet is it any better that I do not see the poor people who serve we half way around the globe? That I simply do not know the suffering they experience? If you go in a fast food restaurant - do you see the person taking your order and bringing your food as someone who is working full time for a "minimum" wage that is in fact not enough to live on?
Recently I went in a restaurant with a friend. It is not uncommon for waiters or waitresses to say "I am Jean and I will be your server today." This one did not say that. My friend said very deliberately and with a kind and attentive voice: "And what is your name?" and then referred to that person by name throughout the meal thanking them for bringing food. I was touched. I was touched by this modeling of what it means to live as if...I am cognizant of the human beings co-creating the world we live in.
