Imagine that you're 5 years old, living in a rundown shack at the fringe of Pakistan. You can feel your ribs beneath your shirt, begging for food that is so scarce and valuable that they wouldn't give it to a little kid like you. Your tongue is parched from lack of water, and your feet are blistered and covered with blood.
Then, one day, a strange man that you've never seen before approaches your family and chatters with them for more than an hour. Curious, you ask your parents what is happening, when suddenly the man turns his head and looks directly at you, with a gruesome, twisted smile. In his hand he holds 20 dollars, which he quickly palms off to your parents. Then he picks you up, carries you off, and rides away. You don't know what is happening, but you do know one thing: Everything is not right.
Suddenly, carried away, you enter a dark room, and are chained to a loom, forced to tie microscopic knots into beautiful carpets sold to tourists thousands of miles around the globe. Or dumped into dusky, dirty mines and forced to work 15 hours a day. Sometimes you cry out for your parents, for the life you once had, but you soon learn not to. Because you're either whipped or beaten.
A life full of trouble and misery. This is why we have stood up, to help those who need it the most.
Isn't our economy almost completely reliant on child labor? So isn't it that if we eliminate this, our economy will collapse, making us less able to help them?
ReplyDeleteIt's not right. That's all I can say to this.
ReplyDelete