In my part of Virginia, it snowed a bit over the last 2 weeks and ultimately, we stayed in the house more than normal. That led to many hours of documentary viewing. Too many. But, I promised to tell you how things have changed around here, so here's one.
I became concerned with the plight of other people. I know, I am supposed to be concerned with the plight of others because I'm Christian. I understand that I can't make poverty go away. I don't think God expects us to, anyhow. Jesus said, "The poor you will have with you always," But the rest of that statement says you are obligated to help. "And you can help them any time you want. But you will not always have me." (Matthew 14:7, NIV) The poor will be with you always...but you must still reach out to them. So, it is easy to think about the homeless vet, the hungry kids and even people I know personally who are dealing with displacement issues. They are right around me. But I never thought that my purchases were impacting so many lives around the world. I love chocolate. I don't mind grabbing a quick candy bar at the check-out. Then I watched two documentaries about the child labor in Africa on the cocoa farms. Very saddening. Heartbreaking. Then there's shoes and clothes and toys. The toy factories in China, the clothing factories in Bangladesh and all of the other cheap labor employed the world around. Our developed nations are taking advantage of greedy governments and cheap labor. In the countries that manufacture most of our stuff, the governments don't enforce their own "laws" and it's easy for companies to make things inexpensively. Don't get me started on Walmart. I watched a documentary on that store just because I needed to remember why I don't like to shop there. The reasons I don't shop at Walmart are for another post.
So, I made a decision. I would only buy thrift store clothes. My reasoning is this: I cannot afford to buy Fair Trade clothing when I need to replace something but I don't want to place my money into the hands of greedy, self-serving manufacturers. So, the thrift store takes someone else's bad purchase and turns it around for good by supporting a charitable cause. It's not a perfect system, but at least my money goes to someone else's good. Another things I've decided is that I will now try to only buy American made fabrics for my sewing projects. Everyone should be given a living wage. Why should I only make changes that impact other nations when our nation suffers from a loss of jobs regularly? Another thing is supporting missionaries and the spreading of the Gospel to other countries. Many of the freedoms we experience in our country and many of our regulations are rooted in the Bible we now so easily reject. These workers in poor countries get no time off, no days off. If you can't come work, someone else will. We are allowed, mandated even, at least 1 day off. Whether you worked 3 on 2 off or 12 hr shifts, somewhere in there they must give you a day of rest and cannot penalize you for taking it. 6 days and a rest was God's idea, not man's. How about a means of support when you have nothing or you've lost everything? God's idea, not man's. Many of those poor workers are women and if their husband died or they were displaced, they'd be out of luck. The Bible tells us often to take care of the poor, the widow and the orphan. The least I can do is try not contribute to the suffering of others. I want my actions and choices to be a blessing to other, not a curse. I will most likely highlight some companies I think are doing great and some that are not, as the blogging journey continues.
These are some of the changes that you can expect to see. I've had a lot of things to consider and it has all given me so much to share. I hope your day is blessed and your interest piqued by this post. Some documentaries to consider watching:
1. The Dark Side of Chocolate
2. Cocoa-nomics
3. Fashion Victims (Movie about Bangladesh sweat shops)
4. Living on One Dollar (made me think about woven Guatemalan items)
5. Santa's Workshop
That's just 5. Plus I watched a health documentary called Bought and a finance video called Spent. Being informed will not only bless your life, but enable you to bless others. Enjoy.
(Please forgive any grammatical errors, I didn't feel like proof-reading. Pregnancy has made me lazy.)
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