“The child swept more cans into the blast furnace, and as it belched toxic smoke and fumes, the boy didn’t seam bothered as it swirled around his face and into his lungs.”
This was just one of many scenes we watched from the comfort of Zen Tower this weekend. Workers in Pakistan and India, many of them children, manufacture products in deplorable conditions. In the same factory as the scene mentioned above workers were exposed to all kinds of danger including handling and cutting metal shards with no safety gear, and even walking amongst concrete forms filled with molten aluminum, and no foot protection. Their objective was to build pressure cookers.
In footage from another factory, workers sat in front of a liquid vat of what was essentially thermite – finely ground aluminum powder and rust, and with not a care or a pair of gloves they mixed the concoction with their bare hands, the toxic stew running up their arms past their elbows. These workers were making sparklers and other fireworks.
The experience was very humbling considering these conditions would never fly in the west. No one in the footage seemed depressed or worried. They each happily worked on their tasks both young and old, and many of them appeared to be grateful – oblivious to the fact that danger and disaster was right in front of them. One of us even questioned their life expectancy considering the exposure to the dangerous chemicals.
I think of the stress of my lay responsibilities – I manage a piece of a call center, and some days, just like many people, I just don’t have it in me. I “just don’t feel it.” I want a break from our clients and employees. Some days they frustrate me and annoy me. Sometimes the internet is slow. Sometimes a tool is down. Sometimes I get a less-than-perfect review. But now, as I type this, I am embarrassed about any complaint I have ever had about work – be it people, pay, or even policy. I’ve been in the workforce for more than 30 years, and with all the ups and downs I have experienced, never have my days been filled with the dangers and stresses we witnessed in these factories.
We are often spoiled in ways that we don’t even know.
May we appreciate all that we have
May we think of those who suffer to make a living
May we be conscious of what we have, and who made it come to be
May we learn from the suffering of others always