just once

Let me explain this just once.
I say just once because...
it is hard.
They are hard words to organize,
to make obedient enough
to march out as I would like them to
to bridge the gap between me and...
anyone else.
They are hard words for my audience,
my dear 'anyone else'
to accept, take in, and give shelter to.
And it is so hard for me to send them out
and receive them back
because they were not given room abroad.

So let me explain this just once.

It has become common knowledge that certain clothing brands, food makers, and corporate companies support, use, and abuse modern day slaves. Most people accept this with distant sarcasm with poorly played jokes about sweatshops and children making your shoes in a 3rd world country. And people laugh as if it is funny. But mostly because they believe there is nothing to be done and laughter is the last defense.

And I? I live with a modern day abolitionist. There are resources (like this one) for those who want to ask questions and make little changes to their lives here and there. But it costs to make changes. More often than not, the cheapest option is the option most tied to slavery. (However, the most expensive option doesn't guarantee that you wont support slavery either.) Truth is, it is going to be more expensive to care. While the people around me understand why I care and why I make the shopping decisions that I do, I know that it puzzles people.

Which is to say, I have a very, very tight budget. But I have my freedom. And I happen to believe that God personally looks over my budget. I always have enough. Enough, though, in a sense that would make a lot of people very uncomfortable because it is enough without the comfortable abundance most people imagine. It has been something I have had to think over... is my comfort and my insecurity over my tight budget... worth the continuation of slavery? Not that I take personal responsibility for it as a whole, but my attitude towards it contributes to my culture's attitude and so on. So here it is: it simply is not cost effective to discontinue slavery. That's what it really comes down to. That's what people were worried about pre-civil war in the U.S. and it's what a lot of people continue to say.

While no one will criticize me openly and thus appear to support slavery, I can feel people meeting my budget and my decisions thereafter with confusion. This is not a cost-effective method of buying groceries. And that would matter. It would matter greatly if buying groceries was really my goal. It would matter greatly if I believed that my personal survival was more important than another's. I challenge you to read Philippians 2 (especially verses 3 and 4), to think it over and to let it change you with way Scripture should, and then to build your life.


And yes, most of those who I would love to understand will never read this post, but it makes me feel better.