Child Labor

The more our lives feel like fantasy the more someone else's life becomes a nightmare supporting our dream life. We should remember that there is always a cost to luxury, even if we're not the ones paying for it, someone else is. Multinational corporations sell us heavenly comforts at the expense of hellish labor for its workers. Behind all the wonderful products we take for granted there are legions of nameless laborers who slave over it; their entire family and in some cases the entire community itself is engrossed in making that one product. Luxury and comfort aren't free. I wish there was an easy solution to tackle this problem. I wish the poor and helpless children had some other means to make a living, but I wonder if others who established these structures and systems of abuse, who profit off of them everyday, share in the guilt that I have. Whether we are aware of where our purchases go, what exactly our money supports, doesn't change the fact that we as a society remain complacent in the face of inhumane exploitation. And so, with deep embarrassment I show my humble gratitude to all the children of the world who made the products I enjoy using. Appreciation and apology don't go well together- neither do child and labor. At the very least, in your honor, we need to increase our knowledge and awareness of these corrupt practices and remove our support of them wherever possible. To the children, may your dreams be richer than our own and may we all help to support those dreams one day, ameen.


http://www.childinfo.org/labour.html
http://www.freethechildren.com/
http://goodweave.org/index.php?pid=9300