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Yesterday in my other blog I posted about a thread I started on Facebook that took off like wildfire. I thought that people expecting to get something for nothing from creative people was the problem, but after speaking with the plumbers who replaced our well pump yesterday who also get regularly nickle and dimed by friends and family members, I realized this was a deeper problem. It wasn't just that creative people were being rampantly undervalued, the fact is, everyone wants something for nothing and if you're willing to give it to them, they'll gladly take it. We've been so conditioned to get it all super cheap and super fast that we're reticent to pay more or wait for anything. Of course we'll stand on our soap boxes and preach about buying handmade and buying American and then turn around and look for a super sale or hit the local corporate chain store in search of dollar items and bargain bin scores without a second thought about the deeper implications.
Earth Day is today and after a particularly fruitful visit to a local thrift store I mentioned to my husband that if more people bought second hand and re-purposed these items, the world would be a better place. In my twenties everything I owned came from thrift stores-my clothes, my shoes, my decor, my furniture...everything but my food! The grease pencil prices on the bottom of my shoes were a family joke, but I was the one laughing because I knew how much those vintage shoes were worth! I didn't have a car and the thrift stores were in walking distance, plus I loved vintage and it was plentiful back in the 80s in the Bay Area. I'm determined to master my sewing machine so that I can whip up my own fabulous clothing from vintage fabric and patterns and stop contributing to the mass consumer culture. Yet I, too, bend to the siren song of that fabulous and super cheap dress at Forever 21 or H&M.
The fact is, if it's cheap, someone didn't get paid fairly. Chances are that someone lives in a third world country, they work in sweatshop conditions and might even be trapped in a lifetime of indentured servitude. When we created laws to protect the worker in this country, it was a very good thing. Unfortunately as time progressed the manufacturers took their business elsewhere so they could get cheap labor again. Fact is, that cheap thing we covet isn't cheap at all. It's quite expensive, only someone else has paid the price so we can get it cheap.
A good friend of mine told me a story once that haunts me still. He was in China visiting a factory when a worker on the floor had a sudden heart attack and died. My friend expressed his concern and the tour guide responded, "Don't worry, we can get you another worker."
When my husband and I had a bead shop and Fair Trade gallery we struggled daily with the unfortunate dichotomy of beautiful fair trade handicrafts being sold opposite beads that I knew were being made by people who were dying of silicosis from breathing the dust produced in carving and drilling gemstones and created by people working in sweatshop style factories. Though we also sold beautiful handcrafted beads and vintage Swarovski crystal, people mostly wanted the cheap strands. Eventually we took the beads home and it felt right to do it. No one really wants to think about why things are so cheap. They may give lip service to supporting the small business owner and making this country great again, but most of them don't put their money where their mouths are. Then when an independent guy or gal asks to be paid fairly for their work, people balk. What? How much? I can get that at Target for a dollar!
I am guilty too, so this isn't a sermon.
How do we shift our way of thinking? How do we let go of this need to have so much and get it cheap? What will it take for people to realize that we all deserve a living wage and to be fairly compensated for our hard work? I wonder. I think that moving the factories overseas has disconnected us from reality, just like we've lost a connection to the food we eat. It's also killed our economy, but that's another topic for another day. We live in a time when we are more connected than we've ever been and yet more disconnected than we've ever been. We're busy, busy in our little bubbles of cell phones and social networking sites and TV programs, it's so easy to get whatever we want whenever we want it and get it cheap...we're losing the basic milk of human kindness. That's a mighty expensive scenario when you think about what we've lost.
Love,
Madge
16 comments:
What a smart and thought-provoking blog. I see a shift in consumer values coming. Awareness breeds action.
Susan
I hope so. It's time we all paid more attention to the world around us. Awareness does breed action indeed!
Cheers,
Madge
Very well said! "Cheap" stuff is bad for the people who make it, bad for the planet and bad for the people who buy it. It sets up a cycle of mindless consumerism where nothing has value and everything is disposable. Hopefully, the "Handmade Nation" and "Localvore" movements will help to break this cycle. Most of us would benefit from purchasing more thoughtfully.
Thank you so much for this post, Margot. I think this is a really important emerging awareness in the creative community - we're dwelling in an abundance of free content, and I think it colors the way we value tangible goods sometimes.
You might also like this great post on Scoutie Girl: 3 Reasons to Pay More for Your Stuff (http://www.scoutiegirl.com/2010/04/3-reasons-to-pay-more-for-your-stuff.html)
I so appreciate your frank and balanced take on this subject.
Mrs. Greg
I think it helps that people are focusing more on handmade, but even those making things have to be mindful of what they're using to create and how it impacts the world. It's a lot to think about!
We're on the way, I do believe.
Cheers,
Madge
Sister Diane
I so agree with you! I'll check out that post.
Thank you for all you do to support and promote the beauty of handmade.
Cheers,
Madge
Great post for Earth Day! In addition to reconsidering cheap consumer goods, I have been thinking a lot about giving away (and taking) free content and design lately. I think that we each need to take a stand and refuse to do work for free, but that is much harder than it sounds. Maybe even impossible.
Hopefully, as the economy becomes more global, the protective labor laws will also spread. And as the internet continues to be more respected and vital, more individuals will get paid for providing valuable content! I like being optimistic!! :)
The Discovery Channel, Planet Green did a reality series about the subject of fashion and where and how clothes are made. Six British citizen went to India to work in the sweat shops to see how the clothes they purchase are made. It was an eye-opening experience for them because the people in the series were under the age of 30, so there experience is nothing more than wearing disposal clothes. When you realize that it takes 13 people to make one shirt and a store like H&M charges $15.00, then you know that there is a disconnect and in other words there is something wrong with this picture.
I think people should purchase most of their goods locally even if it does cost them more. There should be a mindfulness in buying quality than something that only last a couple days.
You might not be preaching, but HALLELUJAH and AMEN! It is so obvious that most Americans have never travelled abroad or even walked in someone else's shoes. We have had so much abundance in this country---it has been great, but WE NEVER ASKED why we had it and no one else did. For two decades I have paid higher prices for local organic foods, natural products, recycled paper products, environmentally sound cars, cleaning products(vinegar and soda is not really more expensive :)) and Fair Trade clothes etc. because I knew that I am part of this world...we are not separate from each other... What happens to someone else in my name is my responsibility. (That goes for chickens and cows and wolves, too.
Gerri
Rachel
That's where this post started, I have taken a stand. I won't work for glitter anymore!
Good for you and let's hope you are right!
Cheers,
Madge
Henna
We really do need to think about where we spend our money and how that affects the planet. Good points!
Cheers,
Madge
Gerri
You've always been an aware person and you raised aware kids, and that's something of which you can be proud. We can make a difference and we can vote with our wallets and our conscience.
Cheers,
Madge
I think I appreciate your post about this subject on Earth Day more than I would about a post that encourages me to plant a tree. I think that Earth Day is important to get us to think globally, but act locally. To consider our buying habits. To challenge ourselves to buy hand crafted and local even though it may cost a bit more, but is produced with so much more love. Much to think about here, as ever. Thank you for sharing your inspiration, Miss Madge. Enjoy the day! Erin
On the mark and elegantly stated.
you're on a roll margot! first, you inspire me to stick up for myself - my worth and my work! then, on a deeper level, now i need to look at how i not only sell, but how i BUY affects the world around me. Thanks for the inspiration and the eye-opener.
There is an eye-opening book called 'Cheap' written by Ellen Ruppel Shell. You will come to understand the meaning of cheap and this will make you think twice before you go to the dollar bin or to the likes of Wal-Mart.
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