Life is Cheap

One thing I have learned from my years at school is how much I detest capitalism. Inherent within capitalism is the exploitation of the many for the profit of the few while those of us in the middle scramble around trying to buy all the commodities the media insists we need. How many times do you hear someone claiming how they need that new pair of brown patent leather boots or they need a new laptop because the one they own does not have enough memory or whatever it is laptops should have to be awesome? Consumerism dominates our society as the majority of the population waits for the next model that is bound to be bigger and better than before. Your iPod Nano is no longer enough, now you need the iPod Touch! Your flip phone, while it makes phone calls like a phone should do, is no longer acceptable because you need a phone that can go online and play music for you. AND you need to have it with you at all times (which is another subject entirely and one of the most annoying things in the world). It amazes me the way people are obsessed with buying new things.

While I am by no means a minimalist, I am making the attempt to move in that direction. I grew up following the footsteps of my father and was a faithful pack rat. I kept all my old school projects because sometimes you just need to read poems you wrote in third grade. I kept paper scraps because you never know when you will have the urge to make an art project out of that faithful construction paper. I kept hordes of stuffed animals and let them take over my double bed because they were cute and as a girl in our gender-obsessed society, I was supposed to want to cuddle with them. Now, after living on campus and having to move back and forth twice a year I realize all that stuff just is not important. If I don’t care enough to move it around or if I leave it at one house and don’t miss it, I DON’T NEED IT! The concept of necessity has become skewed in our society and no longer refers to survival requirements.

I bring up my detest for capitalism after a rousing discussion about its effects on the feminization of labor, but also of poverty. In the current global economy, everyone is out to make the most of what they have, and who can honestly fault them for that? However this has resulted in the reliance upon sweatshops and cheap labor. We submit to false consciousness in order to deal with their existence justifying our purchases. I work hard for my money so why should I not indulge in the things I want? If you can get three sweaters at Forever 21 (which uses cheap labor from LA) for the price of one which is say, homemade and sold at a craft fair, what choice do you make? You can choose to boycott sweatshop labor, or you can get more for your money. I stumbled upon an essay from Harvard Business School titled, “Sweatshop Labor is Wrong Unless the Jeans are Cute” which I feel totally typifies our culture. I can ignore the negative aspects because hey, I really want those Nikes and that U of M sweatshirt.

However, boycotting businesses who exploit these workers acts as a double-edged sword as seen in the documentary “Made in LA” which is about the Forever 21 garment workers. The women stress that if we do all choose to boycott the clothing they will be out of a job and will not be able to provide for their family. Sometimes, a job is a job. So what can we really do? Somehow action has to come from these big corporations themselves because otherwise it seems we’re stuck in a vicious circle where we can never escape the devastation of capitalism. I’m still not sure what the solution is, but there has to be a way of mobilizing enough people to enforce minimum wage for everybody. Can we really deny our humanity for the sake of a few extra dollars? Unfortunately, probably.

This ended up not really going into the effects on women like I had planned, but sometimes my writing just has to go where it wants to.

I took the time to send Reiki last night to people who I felt might need it – friends who felt sick or had pain, my dad as he deals with the stresses of business meetings and traveling, and people who I felt could use help sleeping. I learned that I will definitely have to move this time to right before I sleep because I was so relaxed afterward that the reading I had planned to do just didn’t happen (although really who is to say it would have gotten done anyway). I will enjoy taking this time not only as a period of solitude, but as a period of compassion and gratitude for those I love and want to help in any way possible. Perhaps it is this overwhelming compassion brought on by Reiki that is making me more conscious (or more passionate) about the exploitation of others lately. Either way, being overcome with love is never a bad thing. This reminds me of a song I used to enjoy, and I will just close with the lyrics, which I promise is odd for me, but just seems fitting.

Love in Any Language - Sandi Patti

Je t'aime
Te amo
Ya ti-bya lyu blyu
Ani o hevet oth kha
I love you

The sounds are all as different
As the lands from which they came
And though our words are all unique
Our hearts are still the same

Love in any language
Straight from the heart
Pulls us all together
Never apart
And once we learn to speak it
All the world will hear
Love in any language
Fluently spoken here

We teach the young our differences
Yet look how we're the same
We love to laugh, to dream our dreams
We know the sting of pain

From Leningrad to Lexington
The farmer loves his land
And daddies all get misty-eyed
To give their daughter's hand

Oh maybe when we realize
Just how much there is to share
We'll find too much in common
To pretend it isn't there

Love in any language
Straight from the heart
Pulls us all together
Never apart
And once we learn to speak it
All the world will hear
Love in any language
Fluently spoken here

Though the rhetoric of government
May keep us worlds apart
There's no misinterpreting
The language of the heart

Love in any language
Straight from the heart
Pulls us all together
Never apart
And once we learn to speak it
All the world will hear
Love in any language
Fluently spoken here