Do you ever wonder what other people have to do in order that you
can live your life the way you want?
There are two ways of seeing this issue of "the
price" others must pay for your way of living. The first way is that by consuming
more, you create more jobs for others and hence have positive impacts on them.
The real wolf of wall street, Jordan Belfort, effectively promoted this view in the context of Ferrari consumption in an interview .
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| "A lot of people had to die for me to be me" - Frank Costello. |
The second way of looking at this issue is that for one
person to live well, others have to pay a price. The classic example of course
being for you to wear those nice but affordable trainers , someone has had to
slave in a sweatshop. That is if you still want them to be affordable.
I guess in the end it's a facet of the whole capitalism
versus socialism argument.
Now in the western world, it is quite easy to overlook the
subject of your economic impact on other peoples' lives. The west is full of
opportunity, and the majority of people determine their own fate to a pretty high
extent, whether it be more intentional/consciously or unintentional/unconsciously.
However in a country like Kenya you are confronted with a
different reality. As I've mentioned before, there is rich and poor and very
little in-between. But in such countries of limited aggregate means, if the
rich are to stay rich, surely they have to exploit the poor to some extent.
Exploit how?
One example. Like in many countries south of the equator and/or east of
the Greenwich meridian, it is normal for people with a certain amount of money
to have full time house servants in Kenya. They can be treated badly or well,
but are rarely paid well. My father had one in his house. The guy has been
there for 36 years. A whole life dedicated to serving one person. He
effectively came with the house. I won't tell you what he's paid, but let's
just say it's tripled in the last two years yet I still feel guilty about it.
As someone who grew up doing a lot of his own housework and working part time
jobs as a teenager, the whole thing is still bizarre for me, but that's another
story....*
Now if you're not shocked enough by the idea of a servant,
how does the idea of multiple servants hit you? During the efforts to rent the
house, I've had prospective tenants come and ask about where they can house
their army of servants, gardeners, handymen, security guards and other
labourers. There are plenty of people who employ three, four or even more full
time live-in employees as well as some part time ones.
Now comes the question. Are these servants paying a price
so that the richer can maintain their standard of living? Or are they
benefiting? Just imagine for one moment dedicating your entire life to one
person, doing everything for them for little reward (and please don't make
comparisons to god or marriage :-)... I mean working for one person, watching them
enjoy luxury while you live in basic conditions). But at the same time receiving employment and security in return which you might not otherwise have. I guess the reality is that
the people who are servants are both benefiting and paying a price at the same
time.
The servants example is possibly the most "in your face" example in
Kenya. But on a daily basis here you can be easily reminded about this kind of moral
dilemma. What do others have to suffer for us to be us, and do they just suffer or benefit as well? I don't fully know the
answer or the solution... but maybe you do, in which case use that box below.
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* The housework was mum's way of educating me. She made me do it from a young age and I'm glad she did! There's your blog mention mum :-)
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* The housework was mum's way of educating me. She made me do it from a young age and I'm glad she did! There's your blog mention mum :-)
