Robert Frost, 1874 - 1963
Nature’s first green is gold,
Her hardest hue to hold.
Her early leaf’s a flower;
But only so an hour.
Then leaf subsides to leaf.
So Eden sank to grief,
So dawn goes down to day.
Nothing gold can stay.
This story unravels my thoughts and stitches together my
ideas into a palpable mess. This story is about the concept of youth and innocence.
Today I took a sewing machine out of a dusty box that has
been stored in my closet since 2009. Months ago I opened the same dusty box and
attempted to teach myself how to sew with the intent to decrease world suck via
upcycling fabulous thrift store finds. Those many months ago I failed. I could
not begin my eco-friendli(er) alternative to shopping at corporate department
stores. Why?
The bobbin, my friends. The bobbin.
There is this step just before you can begin sewing where
you must raise the bobbin thread. After repeated failure, I abandoned my ambitious
effort and retired that sewing machine back to its home (aka dusty box in the
closet).
Today when I released that remarkable piece of technology from its home,
the bobbin thread was raised in 30 minutes (thanks to the Googling and logic
skills of my partner).
This sewing machine reminded me of a journey I recently began to better understand how food
gets to our tables and how clothes get into our closets.
By the time our things enter our lives they have encountered
possibly hundreds of human hands, traveled thousands of miles, and created
environmental and economic ripple effects.
I was 18 years old when I discovered the relationship
between corruption, hatred, greed and globalization. When I realized
Christopher Columbus was a colonizer and war = death. Consequently, I was
pinned down for 3 [long and complicated] years by harsh realizations, intensive
critical thinking, self-reflection, and severe bouts of cynicism. Seeing and
learning about extreme poverty, genocide, colonization, and a host of other
prominent social issues was…awful. However, my 18-year affair with ignorance
(or innocence) allowed me maintain a semblance of safety, happiness, and
fearlessness. A privilege I am grateful for.
Many people, young people, do not/cannot hold onto innocence
for 18 years. Many children, teenagers, and young adults forgo “traditional”
childhoods full of play, imagination, and learning, to sew garments in
sweatshops and pick fruits and vegetables in sunbaked fields. Globalization paved
a path for capitalism to dominant foreign markets. And globalization demands
the production and overconsumption of things.
In general, humanity values innocence. But we do not always
do a good job of protecting innocence [at all stages and ages of life]. So, globalized
capitalism has made humans further guilty of destroying innocence.
Be mindful of who made your clothing and picked your fruits and veggies; of how goods get to your closet and table.
Until next time, folks!
