Doing It My Way

I am relatively compassionate, particularly when it comes to social injustice. Issues of sexism and racism run prevalently around our world, as does injustice to the poor. Issues about the poor probably get me the most. I've always been the type of person who tried to do something to help the poor, whether that meant giving away close, donating money, lending out belongings, volunteering, you know. I become outraged when I hear about other countries being used for cheap labor (i.e. sweat shops). That's why I was intrigued by a recent idea in global economy. There are some economists/politicians reputed to stand behind a global wage system. The heart behind this would allow Taiwanese and Mexicans to make $15/hour in a factory just like Americans do. At first, this sounded really good. Then it hit me. What would happen to our world if this happened? Where would that money come from? Wouldn't inflation go through the roof? On the other hand, how awfully these people are treated! Why should we expect them to be paid less? Questions like these flooded my head when something else hit me. While some social issues surrounding the poor are very real concerns, some issues don't really reflect compassion as much as they reflect our Western affluence and ignorance. Most third-world countries are living in the agricultural age and uphold a standard of living that requires more food than money (hence the worldwide effort to supply food to Sri Lanka et al). What would they do with $15/hour in some of those countries? We sit comfortably in our homes here in the West, looking east and saying, "I'd never stand for such punitive wages as those poor helpless people earn. They need more money." Sure, we need to end mistreatment, but do we really have to make them like us? We think the main mistreatment is the low wage that we wouldn't like. We're interpreting someone else's worldview through our affluence and comfort, constantly trying to do the compassion thing our way. How compassionate is one culture whose compassion is based on its own standards of comfort? Next thing you know we'll be shipping computers and microwave popcorn to east Africa and south Asia for relief. It's what we'd want.