Response to Monday's Comments - 29th Jan, 2007 - Part II

I decided to give a slightly serious response. If it's really boring to hear Leigh Anne's little philosophies, go ahead and skip this and go to the next entry.

The number one most important thing for a person to have, I think, is pride and a feeling of self-worth. This is more important than anything, including money, etc. If you feel proud of yourself, then that is the most important thing. Of course, that's a bit simplistic. Of course, if a person is going to bed hungry, then pride isn't going to do them a lot of good. But I am talking about almost everybody I know who, although some of them may be "poor" (and that could use defining), they do have enough to eat. So that takes us back to the pride thing.

That man in Dongola to whom I gave my clothes to wash, what choice did I have? That $6 that I gave him, in Sudan, is enough to feed his whole family for a week. (By the way, side point: I thought I was only going to pay $3, but he wanted double because I asked him to have the clothes done by the end of the day, instead of the next day which is what he wanted.) So, what are the choices? I could not give him the job, and wash the clothes myself, for fear of exploiting. But then what? He'd still need to feed his family, and now he has no job. O.k., so I could wash my own clothes and then give him a hand-out of $6 (or however much). That is the route some people go. But I don't think that's any better than letting him wash the clothes. In fact, I would say it is worse because now we are making him a prideless beggar, instead of a man providing for his family. Another option would be to pay *more*, so that we wouldn't call it exploitation. O.k., how much more?

Of course, the whole thing is unfair. It is unfair that I was so lucky and blessed to be born in a country where, with hard work, I can get far and do whatever I want in my life. While many people (this man in Dongola included, probably, though I don't know anything about him personally) can work just as hard as me if not harder, and *still* know that they will live in poverty all their lives. Take my good friend Annett, for example. She works *at least* as hard as I do, maybe harder. But just because she was born in Uganda where education opportunities are not a right but a luxury that is hard to come by, she will never have a pot to piss in. She was lucky enough to get part-way through secondary school, until her sponsor died and that was the end of that. So does that make me a superior person because I managed to get all educated and get a big, fancy job? No, I think it just makes me really unbelievably lucky by birth. It's not fair that I have the luxury of decided whether or not I want somebody to wash my clothes, or clean my bike. That man in Dongola, or Tareg the bike mechanic, they don't have that choice - they're the ones washing the clothes and cleaning the bike! It's not fair, but that is just life, and I don't see how little ol' me can do anything to change it. The only small contribution I think I can make is to try to smile and laugh with people, touch them with some joy, and mostly, let them feel proud of who they are.

So, along the way, I have absolutely zero problem with giving people jobs. No problem with having a house worker, gardener, etc, etc. That's because the option is NOT to give them a job, which I think is worse. I know, my auntie told me that she would not hire them, instead she would want them to "work the land". That is fine and a respectable opinion, but I can say that Irene and Solomon who work for me have no desire to try to live by "working the land".

O.k., sorry for the diversion. You are free to jump on me and disagree.