a thought.

Sara Bongiorni made an interesting observation while she was investigating Wal-mart's claim that only 6% of it's store was imported from China. She writes:

I've been poking around General Miscellany for a few minutes when a Chinese ceramic Jesus stops me cold...I pick him up, confirm that he is indeed from China, and then hover in the aisle and study him...He looks melancholy, and he makes me feel the same. What I'd like to know is whether anybody bothers to explain who this guy is to the Chinese workers who crafted him. It seems only fair that if you are going to ask somebody to spend 14 hours a day painting Jesus figurines then you might mention the big picture to them, perhaps tell them his name, and even point out that he cuts quite a figure in religious circles around the globe...we've got Jesus, famous defender of the poor, molded and painted by poor Chinese workers on the other side of the world...he generates sales for the richest retailer in the world.

How ironic the whole picture is. Unless the company that manufactures the ceramic Jesus is a Christian company in China to utilize business as a means for evangelism (which I doubt), there is something very wrong here. However, I cannot judge the company since 1. I don't know who manufactured the ceramic, 2. I don't know how much the workers are being paid, and 3. I don't know the conditions under which they are working. I can only conclude through my limited research and what the media has said that most workers in China are underpaid and are working in terrible conditions.

What struck me about the paragraph was the sentence "What I'd like to know is whether anybody bothers to explain who this guy is to the Chinese workers..." Do they even wonder? Are they curious at all? And, what do the products they are producing for Americans say about Americans? Why would Americans want a ceramic of a white man with long hair dressed in sandals and what can only look like a long night gown? What is the purpose for this figurine?

If anything, my voluntary sacrifice of goods made in China would be to protest against the companies that take advantage of the workers and to stop buying into the consumerism mindset. Honestly, my research into the conditions of the workers has not been thorough and I have barely scratched the surface on this. I know that I am barely making a dent in the economy and one single person not participating in the purchasing of China made goods is hardly noticed in America. My challenge to you few readers? Try going one month without buying a single item marked with the words "Made in China."

(I apologize if my thoughts seem scattered and lacks any sense.)