Bagpipe article

Here's an article I wrote the school newspaper.

Thanks to Hannah for her great editing/make-it-sound-pretty skills.
____________________________________________________
Who makes our shoes? – Child labor an ongoing tragedy we cannot afford to ignore

BY RACHAEL JONES

Today American corporations import products from all over the world—products which are often made by the hands of children and slaves.

Many prominent corporations are currently opposing a bill that would ban products made from child and slave labor. They are “worried” about what will become of their businesses when they do not have these products. They are worried specifically that such a bill would prompt further investigation into the origins of their products. While there may be other ideological reasons to oppose this specific bill, this rationale is disturbing.

The truth is that slavery is not dead in America, but is a part of our everyday life. It is convenient and cheap and we benefit from these products daily—all the while perpetuating a unjust system.

When we buy products, we are taking part in a global exchange. Our decisions affect not just us, but also the producers selling their products to us, the employees of that producer, and the individuals who made the products.

Who are these people? If we’re honest with ourselves, the answer is that we don’t really know. The rise of mass production and large manufacturers has diminished the relationship between creator and consumer. Our focus has in many ways shifted from the individual to what is cheap and efficient.

We have no idea what the situation behind our products is. We buy a shirt that says “Made in Vietnam” and that’s really all we know about where it came from. What we often fail to realize, though, is that many of these products have stories behind them, some of which are far less glamorous than the shoes we just bought.

Today American corporations import products from all over the world—products which are often made by the hands of children and slaves. Businesses know that these products are cheap and that they can make a significant profit off of them.

As American consumers, we are either ignorant of this exploitation or we just don’t care enough to change the status quo. In the past, businesses would dismiss the origin of their products. But now they are not only publicly acknowledging their dependence on slavery, but refusing to rid themselves of this source of income.

We should not be okay with this.

But what can be done? If a solution exists, it isn’t an easy one.

One solution that is often suggested is to support the fair trade movement. Companies such as World Next Door, Better Way Imports and Invisible Children’s Mend Program are committed to providing conflict-free products to the consumer as well as economic stability to those who create these products.

Of course, ideological conflicts arise even within this movement. Fair trade is limited in scope, and may even be causing more long-term harm than good. Just because a product has the “Fair Trade” stamp on it doesn’t mean that this is the best way to help developing communities.

So what should our response be? Is it really reasonable to boycott shopping at Walmart, Ikea, Hanes and L.L.Bean? I won’t pretend to have a clear-cut answer. In fact, this is one of those issues that just seems to get more complicated the deeper you investigate. But I do know that as Christians we should be at the forefront of that investigation. If nothing else, this should be something we are praying over and discussing–working out as a community what it means to seek justice and see the end of slavery in our day.

Sitting, Waiting, Wishing

Words couldn't describe my state of anxiousness right now. It's been over a month since I applied to be a Roadie with Invisible Children and they should be nearing their decisions. I should know the final word on Dec. 11.

I was told that the application process alone would be a huge learning experience. That couldn't be more true. When I look at where I was at when I started to seriously consider this internship during the summer and where I'm at now I can see that I am a totally different person. Not only do I know so much more about the organization, the war, the bill and social justice in general, I have also learned about my own strengths and weaknesses and grown in ways I was not expecting.

I have never prayed about anything so much in my entire life. And I'm not talking prayers asking that I would get it, but that God will give me wisdom in what I should do, peace and patience as I wait, guidance for the HR team as they sift through applications after application and that God would form the team that will best be able to rep this cause. I am praying that I will trust God in where he places me next semester and to follow that path fully.

Though I must say that it will be really hard if I don't get it. I've never wanted to do anything with my life quite as badly as I want to do this. I can see both great and tough things that can come from either route and whether I am at Covenant or on the road I will need his strength and guidance. I know that nothing in me is capable of doing either of these journeys alone.

I'm not blind to the fact that it will be extremely difficult to live with 60+ people for 2 months and travel in a van for 3. I feel confident that I have the skills necessary for the tasks at hand. I think I know what to expect but I also know that things w will be harder than I even imagine it will be. But I believe in this enough to give up a whole semester, leave my friends and my comfortable life to awaken the sleeping world to Africa's longest running war. I'm excited. I'm nervous. I feel confident yet scared shitless. I'm one great contradiction.

One of the saddest parts about leaving (other than leaving my roommates and friends, which I know would be difficult) would be leaving the IC club here that I was able to help start. I'm excited about next semester, and I could not complain about staying here for that. We will be off of our new club "probation period", we will have a budget and I know great things will be in store for those who are involved. I'm excited about the Legacy Tour that will screen here, whether I get to be on the frontlines with them or backstage preparing for them. AH, it will be the MOST EPIC tour yet! I just can't wait.

I also know that the classes I am registered for will be incredible. I'm so excited to finally start digging deeper into my major and minor and I am really looking forward to my schedule. And of course there are great things happening around. Thank goodness I love Covenant or rejection just might be unbearable.

Planning 2 lives is unsettling at times. I am nervous, yet I feel oddly comfortable. I welcome the outcome, whatever it be. Julie Moore's prayer for me was that whatever happens will be for my good and God's glory. I know that it will be. And I'm excited to see where he takes me.

I've had some time to process last Friday night and I think I'm finally beginning to believe what I've told so many people to avoid actually talking about it. It was good. It actually was. I was totally caught off guard by the whole evening. For something that required so much thought and planning I really believed that it would be perfect. How silly of me. I've been a part of enough events to know that nothing ever really goes according to plan.

Looking back I almost have to laugh at how many things fell apart in preparation for this concert. Venues, bands, posters, merchandise, etc. So it really shouldn't have surprised that only 50 or so people showed up when I was expecting at least 200. It seems almost laughable now.
I was expecting to break $1000 at this event alone, which of course would ensure us the much desired mystery box for the November challenge. The whole club was super pumped for that box, and with all our events in November it shouldn't have been a problem. But of course with last weekend's babysitting fundraiser not going according to plan in combination with this one we only managed to raise $354 for our friends at Awere.

And there it is. The cynicism, the doubt, the denial, the self pity, the feeling of failure. Only $354? So we're not moving mountains with that amount, but every big starts with a little, right? Since when did raising money to rebuild these war torn schools in Uganda become about us? When did our mentality shift from the children to a cardboard box? Of course our whole purpose was for the children, but I can't help remembering how disappointed I was when I realized we wouldn't break (or even come close to) our $1000 mark.

It took some time (I can be pretty stubborn) to see that the evening was not a complete failure as I was beginning to think it was. Here's the amazing things that came out of it:

When our headlining band backed out on us 2 days before the show I was so skeptical of anyone who would replace them. I couldn't have been more wrong. I don't think we had a greater blessing that evening than Rachel Cohen. This girl is fabulous. She so willingly filled in for us with 1 days notice. At dinner before the show she tells me "so, I thought it would be good to have a song about what we're benefiting, so I decided to write one." As she told me the lyrics across the table I was covered in chills head to toe. "He cries for his mother and hopes that no other man with a gun sees his tears. They told him if he cried then he would lose his life and he wonders if death is that bad, might be better than this life he's had." The power of these words came alive as she sang them. Everyone was dead silent, pondering the reality of these words. Tears streaked my face as I sat there listening, remembering why we were all there in the first place. What a beautiful reinforcement of how utterly desperate an end is.

I was so blown away at how many people were so gracious and encouraging to me when things did not go according to plan. I couldn't even express how thankful I was to all my friends and hallmates that came and made the most of it. To watch friends, that I know loathe dancing with all that is in them, dance the night away anyways was just incredible. I have fabulous friends. Even people I had just met or barely knew were super great. I had one guy come up to me and thank me for what we were doing. He was so encouraging and said not to worry about the attendance because it was a great evening and he said with events like this we can never know who was affected and that good can come from it, even if I don't see it.

There were so many small things like that that made the evening so great: The time of bonding that Emily and I had by praying before it started and Taco Bell after it was over, talking with the club workers and sharing the story with them, getting to know the bands and DJ more.

It may have been a small crowd, but it was a great experience. It was a time of learning, growing, bonding, and sharing the story that has so changed me. So while we may not get the mystery box, we are still working and fighting and doing what we can to end this war. And I can promise that we will not quit until Uganda experiences peace and restoration.

Here's Rachel's song:

I'm going to a school that costs ungodly amounts of money and for whatever reason I don't value the education offered here. I've used the line "I'm just so busy" more times than I can count this semester, either to cop out of something or because I'm cramming. But if I'm totally honest with myself, it's really because I'm lazy and I just don't care. I don't care that my parents are sacrificing so much to send me here. I don't care that I have a top quality education at the tip of my fingers. I don't care that my professors genuinely care about me and my success but also about what's going on in my life. I don't care that I've been shown grace time and time again when I turn something in late. I don't care about grades and I just don't care about learning. Wow. How tragic.

Even as I sit here writing about how much I wish I cared about valuing education I have 3 papers and 2 tests looming over my head.

And what's ironic is that I desperately desire knowledge and understanding. It seems like every time I sit down to write a paper or study for a test though something more exciting or glamorous comes up. I loathe facebook, and yet I spend a good majority of my day on it. I so badly want to break out of this routine of education indifference that I've managed to slide into. I want to be an intelligent person. I want to soak up this education while I have it so readily available. I don't just want to make As (which isn't happening anyways) but I want to learn and care about what I'm studying. I'm sick of staying up til 3 am working on stuff that should've been done ages ago and could've easily been done if I had just gotten off my ass and done it. I'm sick of being so distracted. I'm sick of blaming everything but myself for my poor study habits. I'm sick at not being able to manage my time.

So step 1-get off the computer
step 2- dust off that text book and crack it open
step 3- work.

A Single Grain of Rice

I've been going through a strange Disney phase since joining college. My freshmen year I watched more children movies than I could even count and the same is beginning to be true for this year. Maybe it's because of my lack of a normal Disney/princess fetish when I was younger (probably due to growing up with two older brothers) or maybe it's because my roommate LOVES Disney with her whole heart or some combination of the two, but I've taken a liking to these movies. Watching them now that I'm older is definitely enlightening. I catch the sarcasm and innuendos that I never knew these movies had but I also see the truth presented in these movies.
Last week I went to Balcony for a Mulan/knitting party. Mulan is one of my all time favs so I was pumped to get to see it again. One of the lines that I could not ignore this time around was by Mulan's father: "A single grain of rice can tip the scale, so one man may be the difference between victory and defeat." Wow. How had I never seen how profound that is?
Of course this made me think of Invisible Children, because let's be honest, what doesn't make me think of it these days. Invisible Children is an organization that understands the power of people and does not underestimate the voice of the individual.
I've been really frustrated as of late at the "American" in my peers and society. Well, we live in America, we are Americans, duh. So what do I even mean? I mean this sex craving, consumeristic and selfish culture that holds the mentality that anything that does not directly affect us is not our problem. We want to be a part of something bigger than ourselves, and if we're honest we can say that even the need to be a part of something is tainted with the desire to feel better about ourselves. It's sick and twisted and I'm so annoyed by living in a culture that does not think that we have the responsibility or ability to create change.
Friday I was talking to a friend about one of our IC fundraisers and he didn't how our raising money is helping anything. My roommate and I explained that what we raise here goes to rebuild schools and provide an education for what will be the future leaders of Uganda. He started saying how throwing money at the problem won't fix the problem and that if Kony is arrested it will just cause more uproar and that he can't do anything practical that will actually help. Of course by this point the whole conversation turned into an argument and there was weeping and gnashing of teeth. Not really. But I did get pretty heated. I am much too stubborn to be told that what I am doing isn't productive and doesn't hold any value. I know that it is and that it does. I guess showing people that is a lot harder and more frustrating than I thought it would be, especially when they're my friends.
This makes me think if I would even be a good Roadie. I know that I believe in the work being done at this organization and that I love talking about it, but I also know that they get a lot of rejection and I can just imagine how exhausting that must be to always deal with not only the skeptics, but those who straight up don't care and think this is a waste of time and energy.
I firmly believe that one person can make a difference on a small scale, but also on a huge scale. And I love that I can see that in ways that maybe aren't so conventional, like Mulan. I guess my desire then is to be that grain of rice that does tip the scale, but in a direction that is good and right and just.

Love is when:

-3 awesome people hopped in my car on a busy Saturday and missed out on all the Covenant festivities to road trip to Birmingham.
-We left an hour late because I forgot a few essentials and took a few wrong turns and none of them even cared.
-We jammed out to Brand New, Journey and S Club 7, only to name a few.
-We just laughed and drove and laughed for 2 solid hours.
-We were enveloped in clouds and small sprinkles.
-I told them that there would be food and there wasn't and we almost starved, but they loved me anyways
-We ate chicken strips and Famous Amos Cookies
-I met awesome people from all over Alabama that loved the same thing as me
-I finally got to see the 4 amazing people that have completely changed the way I think. Literally.
-We played Dabble and Sean said Dunder "Mufflin" and I almost peed my pants due to laughter
-Our team got to be named Gryffindor
-And we played against Slytherin, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw and Voldemort
-And then we won against Slytherin after a 3 round tie (the way it always is)
-Our tie breaker was guessing someones age
-And Sean said we knew for sure that she was 1 year old because she had lived in Boston for 1 year
-And then I laughed so hard I almost peed my pants AGAIN
-And we won $50 and some books for AWERE
-Lauranne and I sat in the parking lot talking about my application and all my questions and concerns
-I got to hear stories of all the crazy things the 4 of them had done/witnessed
-I laughed so hard I cried (at least 4 times)
-My face literally hurt from smiling so much
-I got to drink 2 monsters (plus the 2 cups of coffee I had earlier that day)
-Charles sang along with and knew every word to S Club 7 (and every other 90s song we played)
-We car danced to Backstreet Boys, Brittany, and N'Sync
-We got to come back to a hodgepodge of awesome people playing incredible music
-And eat mallows
-And everyone kept asking why on earth we were so happy and we got to tell them over and over again
-Kayla and I stayed up until 2 am laughing the point of tears just thinking about the whole day

Mostly I just loved traveling with Emily, Kayla and Charles because they really made this trip epic.

And I so so loved getting to hang out with Bethany, Travis, Sean and Lauranne again. Words cannot describe how fabulous they are. I wish I could shrink them, stick them in my pocket and carry them around with me forever.

That whole day was just good. A perfect good. Even when we got off late coming and going and we took the wrong exits and we were sleepy and hungry--it was still so so good.

I love memories like these.

Be Still

These last two and a half weeks have been a nightmare. I felt like everything was falling apart. I had something big due almost everyday up til yesterday, which alone is enough to stress anyone out.

In addition to that it was Campus Preview Weekend, which meant campus was flooded with hundreds of high schoolers and prospective students. Among these hundreds were my cousin and my momma. It was great to see them and I had a blast, but it was right in between my 2 busiest weeks. I didn't get any sleep or do any homework while they were here, which made me a bit snappy toward the 2 of them. And they had traveled all the way from NM to see me. Gosh, I'm such a jerk sometimes.

My Roadie application was also due that weekend same weekend my mom and cousin were here. I was stressing to get that done while juggling school while trying to hang out with my family and planning IC club stuff. I don't know how people do it.

But that's not all. We had our first IC club meeting that week, and 7 people showed, not including Emily and myself. After a crazy and stressful week, this was enough to disappoint me. There was so much interest after the screening and I was really expecting big numbers. Even during the meeting though I could feel this bitterness break down as the 7 that did come thought of creative ideas for fundraisers and were really excited that Covenant now had something like this to become involved in. Emily and I set to work on organizing some of the things we had talked about in our meeting and it just seemed like 1 good idea was followed by 3 reasons it couldn't work. In one day, after hours of thought and energy and writing proposals we had an entire event (our costume 5k) fall apart and 1 band tell us they didn't want anything to do with a Covenant affiliated event and another band drop out of our benefit. I was also working on getting together a kickball team for the Deep South Tourney in Birmingham. It was the same weekend as homecoming so of course all of Covenant was either playing in the games, working the games or being great Scots and watching the games. All of these factors played a pretty significant role in my emotional well being to say the least. I was so frustrated that nothing was working out and people didn't seem to care about helping. I definitely didn't think leading a club would be this hard.

"Be still and know that I am God."

These words constantly rang inside my head.

I had been looking to my own abilities to find a solution-a new location for the race, a new band for the benefit, a new team for kickball, a creative way to get people to meetings, a new fundraiser. What I didn't do was stop and ask for guidance and wisdom. I just wanted so badly to do something big that I forgot the one who is bigger. I was so caught up in all the business that I didn't take time to be still.

My application deadline was extended 2 weeks. My mom still loves me even though I can get cranky and not fun to be around. I managed passing grades on all the tests/papers/projects I've gotten back so far. I got a phone call from the band that dropped out saying they could play now. We also found 2 others to play. We got a local ice cream shop to support Change for Change. We're working on smaller, more plausible fundraisers for now. And the 4 of us that went to Birmingham ended up being enough because kickball was canceled and we played games instead. We even won $50 and some books for Awere. And we got to spend the day with 4 roadie people that I just absolutely love and meet some more awesome folks.

Man, God is good. If only I would take the time to be still and see it.