Antidote to modern day slavery.... meet your maker

I recently watched the movie "the help" that nicely chronicled post slavery in the south as it morphed into paid underclass labor. This movie was an excellent depiction of this era but also offered a form of nostalgia that seemed to indicate we are past that. There is a sense that now in this new era of a black American president, we as a nation and a world no longer have to deal with such realities. This strikes me as a fallacy that deserves shining sunlight on. I live in a "developing nation" although it is frequently disguised to visitors as a tropical paradise. What this means in real terms is a country that was previously going about its business of life and its simple forms of happiness. Time with family, growing enough food to feed them and practicing worship of whatever god they imagined for themselves were all that was needed here. On the other side of the world people who spent their time collecting things (cars, houses, wall to wall carpeting) discovered that these people could be told they needed more than this simple happiness and in doing so could be nicely convinced to labor for what was known by early socialist as the eating class (those of us in the western world). Now if all this seems like a strange story to you, than you may not realize that you in fact are on a global scale part of the class of people who has the luxury of slaves. Slaves you say? yes, I am not mincing words. Modern day slavery mostly is not the sort that chains people with metal and forces them to work with out pay. Modern day slavery usually means invisible handcuffs that will starving people to a life that does not belong to them. If you think the people making your i-phone in that factory in china want that life than you should consider trading with them.
As I sit and type this I have the pleasure of looking out of fields of green that flow all the way down to the sea. A rice farmer is working the land in front of me. It is his land. he works hard for that rice. He does so on his time and still sees his family grow. This is hard work but it is dignified work and it is his work. He is fit, spends his days outside and always greets you with a smile. Put that man in a factory and he may see more actual dollars every month but he will surely loose much of the freedom he has now. Much of the worlds farmland is no longer run by farmers like him who own their land and work it with pride but are forced to work someone else land for a very small amount of money. I do not wish to make you or me feel guilty for our i-phones or to feel the need to become a farmer, but as we sip our tea, eat our rice or check our email on it is worth acknowledging the system of slavery we are participating in. Is there a way out? I think so. Meet the maker. This may not help your technology fix but it does work for most things. Shake hands with the person who makes your goods. If you can do this you are supporting a life worth living. This person is their own boss, they work hard at what they do and you can reward this quality and their ability to live a life they choose. this is freedom. This is what should be fought for. War is not needed, only you can do this every day in everything you do. Every dollar is a vote. don't vote for slavery. Here is one example of some people who are making it happen. http://modernartisanal.com/about/  Do you know some others? Tell me about them in the comments.

Wherever you go, there you are.

When you strip everything else away, what is left? I ran away to a tropical island. I left naked of my possessions, I ditched it all and said farewell to the world in which all good adults should live. I came to never never land. I left the security of the reality that keeps us going day after day and blindly embraced the unknown. Now is the after part, the part where paradise and happily ever after merge in what is usually known as the end of the book.
A tropical island has a way of stripping away the trappings of a life. I wake up every morning to balmy warmth, the sound of roosters and time and empty space that begs filling, adorning or at the very least contemplating. The minute ritualistic distractions of city life that keep even the most miserable among us busy with the daily habits of sipping white chocolate mocha's, paying the cable bill, and ushering kids to karate are gone in one fell swoop.
After 15 years in a marriage and having narrowly escaped the drudgery of modern life I am left with the this empty space. I am left to ponder the pattern of yes and no answers I am responsible for having shaped my life. I am left to uncover layer by layer the elephants left languidly sleeping in the room who despite their size where easily obscured by nearly a decade of modern adult life. Now we are just us here, the palm trees sway, the geckos chirp and in this peace the reality and truth settle like a cold cloud around my shoulders. I can now honor and weep with my afraid to be alone twenty year old self who spent most of her adult life obscuring sad realities with the business of life. Once you have run away from home, you cannot do so again you have to face yourself in the mirror and understand what is good and what needs fixing. This is where I stand now. Alone in front of the mirror contemplating what to fix, what to break and what to make gentle peace with.