Knit 1, Crochet 2

Perspective

I'm rather embarrassed. I found out yesterday that my friend Jen from our knitting group has no AC in her car. In Arizona. In the summer. My AC might suck, but at least I have something. From now on when I'm bitching incessantly about the heat on my way home, I'm going to think of Jen and stop acting like the biggest whiner ever. I cannot even imagine driving around in this inferno with no AC at all, sucky or otherwise. I'm sorry, Jen!!

This also got me thinking. I work for a charitable foundation who works to better the lives of the people in the Mexican border towns. I'm sure I'll get some anonymous emails saying we should be helping people in our own country like I always do. Which pisses me off to no end. I could care less about a barbed wire fence separating one country from another. When I see a child/adult/teenager/senior hungry, dirty, cold and in need I want to help. I could care less if they are purple, green, Mexican, American or Martian. They are people, just like us. Contrary to popular belief, Mexicans want to stay in their own country and raise their families. They aren't swarming to the border to eat McDonalds or wrestle some CEO's job away from them. If this country would just issue work permits for jobs we don't want to do anyway, I'll go out on a limb and say we could really make a huge dent in illegal immigration. But, I'll shut up about that for now.

So, back to me thinking. I've put in many hours of work in the barrios of Agua Prieta and in the orphanages we sponsor in Mexico. As hot as we can get here, most of us have air conditioned homes, offices and cars to go to for relief. They have NOTHING. No fans, because there is rarely electricity and if there is they can't afford one. No ice, because there is no freezer. No pool in the backyard or down the street at the community center, instead they put a make-shift tub in their outdoor kitchen to provide their children some relief. And they sit in the heat, watching their children play in the garbage alongside the road because there is no trash pick-up in the barrio. And there they hope for a better life that probably won't come because of the very few opportunities in Mexico and a government that could care less about it's own people.



Instead of bitching about the heat, I'll be thankful I'm not living in the equivalent of a dump, making $400 a MONTH in a factory and hoping I have enough food to feed my children before my next payday.

Posted by Heather at 10:28 AM