Thank You Note to a Child Laborer
Dear Bopha:
These are tough financial times, and working for $2 per day to help provide for your family is also really helping us here in the west. I thought I should write a quick note of thanks.
First some good news: Gas prices are lower. For a while it was getting scary. I was afraid I would have to sell my SUV! That would have been hard on us (it would have taken days to clean all the stuff out the back). Now that oil prices have gone down, your mom should be able to buy the ½ cup of cooking oil you’ve been doing without for so long. This means she will be able to cook a meal every once in a while for your family. Cheap oil is a great blessing to us all, isn’t it? You can cook, and I can continue driving at 15 miles per gallon.
I know the amount you’ve been getting paid has been dropping like a stone lately. This stupid credit crunch is freezing everyone up from buying things right now. I guess part of the problem is debt. I should know. I have four credit cards maxed to the limit. Plasma TVs are really expensive here – it’s unbelievable how much they want for a 50” screen! Since I didn’t want to put more on my credit cards, I was forced to take out a second mortgage on my home so I could buy the boat. This was unavoidable. Although we can only use it only a few months out of the year here in Wisconsin it was something my family felt we really could not do without. As you look at the attached photo I think you will see why. Isn’t it beautiful?
So anywho, all this borrowing seems to have played a role in freezing money up in a serious way. Therefore, it is all the more important that you keep working twelve hour days for so little. We are all doing what we can. I realize the cost of rice has risen above your ability to pay. But let me tell you, my family and I are standing in solidarity with you. You will be glad to know that I have started buying the cheaper coffee to cut down on our grocery bill. This is sort of funny in a way because I’ve had to stop buying fairly traded stuff. The bright side is that this should help your friends, as I know their employers do not believe in fair trade.
The really scary part is that the money I had invested in emerging markets like Darfur is now only worth half of what it was last year at this time. Believe you me … you are fortunate your family has no savings.
So, I thought I’d write this little note encouraging you to keep working so I can get some good stuff for Christmas this year.
Gratefully,
Your Friend in America
P.S. Sorry to hear about your sister being sold into the brothel, but it’s wonderful that your mom can now get the medicine she needs. Once she starts working again and your dad stops drinking, your situation could really start looking up.
Disclaimer: These blogs are the words of the writers and do not represent InterVarsity or Urbana. The same is true of any comments which may be posted about any blog entries. Submitted comments may or may not be posted within the blog, at the bloggers' discretion.
Don't you ever get tired of blaming the world's ills on America?
I sure would have liked to see this rewritten and related more to smaller, more daily decisions and to avoid the easy targets.
Sigh. Have we Christians no idea at all of economics (among myriad other topics on which we pretend to knowledge)? Do yourself a favor and visit EconLib.org.
The arrogance expressed by the real author towards those who "haven't sacrificed enough" is nauseating. Buying "fair trade" is not a means of salvation. Guilt is not a biblical motivator for change, only the renewal of hearts and minds through the power of the spirit leads to the change that will provide the needed resources for development in the third world. This cannot be accomplished through the forced marriage of Christianity and the secular gods of environmentalism or economics.
Some of the challenges in the comments above are well-earned. Arrogance may well be among them. Sarcasm is a dangerous medium and can often backfire. However, the idea of allegory or a story that turns a situation on its side, is a well-used prophetic tool in Scripture. David's sin with Bathsheba would have gone unrepented without Nathan the prophet telling a story of injustice similar to the one above.
I also admit to not being an economist. There is a lot of mystery to economics. If it were simple, we would not have regional and global economic meltdowns and many intelligent economists who have very divergent views. Nonetheless, I have seen first hand the poverty sustained (at least in part) because of the incredible pressure to keep wages at $2 per day levels just so that we can buy low-priced goods. It is the process of meeting and getting to know kids like Bopha which challenge me to look critically at the ever-growing gap between rich and poor.
I also believe there is simply something about the levels of unsustainable consumption taking place in our lives which are dangerous to our spiritual health. I do not let myself off the hook in the above scenario just because I do not own an SUV, big screen TV or boat. I place myself in the camp of those who are caught up in a buying frenzy - striving for simplicity but falling woefully short.
This includes my travel. I do say "no" to many opportunities (for family and sanity as much as for economics), but my job calls for an unconscionable amount of spending on travel. This too is an area of struggle for me.
I do not remove myself from the indictment above. I confess that sarcasm is a poor tool. I confess to not completely understanding how wealth and poverty are connected and that the materialistic end consumer is just one link in the chain which has kept nearly half of humanity in unbelievable poverty. But I am certain that unless those of us who are followers of Christ do not lead the way in changing our lifestyles as well as our disconnectedness from the poor, children like Bopha have little hope for a different reality.
Scott admitted that he is not rebuking anyone but that the shock value in the sarcasm used was to jar the reader just enough to take a bit more seriously the reality of universal sin. Our decisions in consume DO effect others. Also, I don't think anyone can argue that if Americans (in general) would live within their means, it would take the power of the loan sharks right out from underneath them.
I give this article an A because it brings to our minds the uncomfortable question of, "How am I spending my money? Am I putting it in places that have eternal significance or am I frivolously spending it on things that satisfy my earthly desires?" It never hurts to consider this every once in a while.
I know this website is usually for university students that usually have no money (been there recently, since I just grad a few years ago), so in some ways it is hard for a student to find this article applicable to him/her right now. But I think after a few years when he/she graduate and perhaps work overseas, hopefully this message will come back in their mind again and remember what they (and I) should do "for the least of these".
I will take the "how am I spending my money" question a few steps further and say "what is my thought process behind what I do, buy/spend. What is at the heart of what I think, what I want, and is it godly, Christ-like or relevant?" A person's deeds (beginning at the thought level), good or evil, come straight out of a person's heart. I think this is your goal in this article. To put a call out to all believers that will ultimately result in a heart change. When the heart changes, the life (and lifestyle) follow suit.
Clearly, you struck nerves, and the overall discomfort of the negative posts indicate that so many of us struggle with looking at the poor, let alone knowing that in whatever kind of backward way, we have unwittingly made our own contribution to their state, or worse, done nothing to assuage it.
How about an update of the illustration of if the world were a village of 100 people, and how many people had many of the things that most of the West takes for granted?
I can't remember who wrote it, but updating that might also be effective to help make your point.
As mentioned before, I'd love to see this rewriten with regard to smaller things (the luxuries nearly everyone in the US has but doesn't consider to be luxury). It would be great to see your stories and other people's stories about how they've gotten by with less (so that they can afford the better options).
Scott here. Thanks for the great spirit of learning represented by many comments. I'd even welcome comments which makes the argument that the more we spend the better for the poor. While I don't completely agree, if done in the right spirit, it could be useful to our discussion.
Here's one of the "If the world were a village" links http://www.familycare.org/news/if_the_world.htm.
Ideas for embracing simplicity.
1. Live in community. If you don't want to share physical space, think about sharing common items (lawn care items, tools, etc.) with others in your church or neighborhood.
2. The average car ownership in the US is over 2 vehicles per household, with the largest percentage of households owning 3. (see http://www.autospies.com/news/Study-Finds-American...#). Think about how to make other transportation options work.
3. Weigh your garbage each week. See how low you can get your garbage output.
4. Open your checkbook to the scruitiny of a caring friend whom you invite to ask hard questions about your purchases.
5. Best of all, just get into relationship with those who are poor. I realize this can be tricky. It's hard for money not to enter into such a relational equasion. But we must work to keep the insulation between the poor and non-poor to a minimum. Poverty is not a failure of economies as much as it is a failure of love and relationships.