Arts and Crafts

Recently, I have been feeling increasingly nauseous about buying clothes. This feeling had its roots in a friend of mine who told me about his conviction and his "Protest" to stop buying clothes for a year. He turned me over to the likes of Shane Claiborne with the warning that, "Be ready for your life to be turned upside down". Right now I am going through Jesus for President as well as Irresistible Revolution. He writes with passion about caring for the poor and about no surrendering God's politics for government. Irresistible Revolution has certainly been convicting. I started to have some dialogue with Emily about what God has been teaching me. We started to really research through some harsh realities of our buying and spending and became more aware of the systemic injustices that we were contributing to. We watched a documentary called the Church of Stop Shopping. This satiresic documentary showed not only the poor quality of the treatment of laborers in foreign markets, but also showed the sick consumerism that has taken this country by storm.

The other day, Emily and I were shopping at Ross. We were initially looking for something for her to wear at a wedding that we are going to at the end of the month. We came across a dress that had written on it in bold letters, "Made in Vietnam". Emily looked at me and made this statement: "Why would they advertise that so boldly?!? Of course I guess for most people they really don't care." Unfortunately, that is true. No one really does care about where their clothes are made. It was only until recently that I started to care. Otherwise, I just bought at low prices. What prices are we really paying by purchasing items that 1. We don't need and 2. Are costing people their very lives?

I became dizzy a couple of weeks ago when I ran into an emergency buy. These scenarios are always bad news for both the wallet and consumer conscience. I found myself in a department store that was so overpriced that the store clerk confessed to me that he couldn't afford the clothes. I needed a dress shirt and a tie. When I knew I needed these two things I had thought that I would face the battle between buying cheap or buying something more expensive but in better quality working conditions. What surprised me was that both of these were not options. Every single shirt and tie came from countries that have poor (Understatement) working conditions. I finally found a tie and shirt that was cheap enough, or so I thought. It pained me and I felt sick about buying these clothes. In my head were flashes of children starving to death and working on the clothes that I just bought. I felt defeated and wondered if my conscience had been seared to appease my need for a shirt and tie. The story has both good news and bad. Fortunately Emily called and I told her how much I spent which caused me to action to take back said clothes. I went to Kohl's and bought a shirt and tie for a fraction of the price, but they were both made in the same countries that are known for abuses in the working environment.

I have to say, I felt a lot better after I came out of Kohl's than Dillard's. Why? I know why, but it pains me to say that it wasn't because I cared more about where my clothes were made. It was because I saved a dollar. My concern for the poor was out measured by the price I paid. This mindset haunts me. I know what my true humanity was concerned with and knew that I chose my own comfort over others.

Emily and I have decided that we want to start thinking creatively. Knowing that Emily is way better at this than I, we went to the craft store and got some painting supplies for her. She is really good. I find it extremely interesting to find her creating something from a blank canvas. As we started to talk about getting those creative juices flowing, we discovered that we wanted to start thrift shopping and making our own clothes out of them. So far, she has modified a hoody that is extremely cool and unique. We are going to start doing this to both save money and to make sure that our money isn't going to enslave people.

I think we both realize that there will come a time when we have to buy something that is at a department store made in Vietnam or another country. But we do it with gull in our stomachs and pain in our heart. To be honest, I am glad for it. I am glad that it will hurt when we are forced to make these choices. I don't want to be numb to my buying. I want to be conscience of my buying. Perhaps if more of this would happen, we would see change.

Love, Hope, Pray

Noah