Every 17 seconds the hydraulics of the machine to my right hiss; and I pretend that I am part of that machine, folding t-shirts, putting them into the box right in time for the HISSSSSSS. In those 17 seconds, I measure my movements and focus my energy as if I were just an extension of the unfeeling metal that sends me clothes to count and box. Waste one second, fall behind, interrupt the machine. Here, we are all organic extensions of a steal heart pumping one HISS at a time.

My coworker says that he and I are too educated for this kind of work. It is degrading. I will blame his 3 unfinished degrees for why he does not see the purpose in education drenched in sweat. This is, after all, the “real world” outside of the classroom. In many ways, it is the most real world. Here are the people upon whose backs society stays afloat. Here are the people who do the work that no one else wants to do and they do it for loved ones, for sick ones, for family near and far because it is all that they can find to do for now. Here is our foundation and our backbone. We will only ever be as strong as such as these.

I was taught that St. Francis once said, “ the glory of God is man fully alive.” I was taught that he was right. And I wonder what that means for us in this place as we mirror our machines, as we indeed become machines in order to build our lives. Moreover, what does it mean for our cousins in other countries where the rules are different? The work we do is hard, but the work our cousins do is unfathomable to me. We print on t-shirts that arrive to us from every corner of the enslaved globe. Egypt. Mexico. China. Haiti. Every t-shirt is a reminder that someone else has it so much worse than me. It is a reminder that my work is not degrading. I am still human.

I think to all of my growing up in which friends and family were always “searching out God’s call for their lives”. It seems odd to me that “God” never seems to call the people around me to work in the factory. I suspect that is born more out of concern for our own glory than it is God’s. My education tells me that there is no biblical or theological reason preventing the work we do here from being glorious. There is no particular aspect of printing t-shirts that in and of itself prevents men and women from being fully alive. On the contrary, Ecclesiastes tells us that we are to find enjoyment in our work and obey God’s commands. It does not say “find work you enjoy.” That is not an option for every person. That is not an option for most people on this planet. Can we who work in the warehouses find enjoyment and partake in the glory of God?

And now I only begin to grasp the Scriptures that tell us that God uses the humble, the simple, and the lowly to shame the proud, the educated, and the elite.

My struggle is to remember that I am not all machine if for no other reason than because I feel. I have compassion. Compassion will safeguard my humanity as I conform to the search for efficiency and the drive of my employers for profits. Yes, I have been sent here to learn though I do not know what I am looking for or how long I will be learning. I do know though that we need education and sweat mingled in more places.