what is conflict?
when i was living in honduras a man once tried to rob me. i was riding on a bus with my friend hannah. we were heading towards the centre of the city to do some saturday morning shopping in the open air markets. i had my hand leisurely dangling out the window, trying to catch a breeze. because it was saturday, there was a lot of traffic. our bus was stopped and it was hot.
as i sat there, boiling in the heat, i did not notice the small posse of men that had gathered beneath my window, admiring my hand. the flash of silver encircling my finger had attracted them. one of the men looked up at me and said, "give me your ring as a gift." i peered out the window at him and mistook his demand as a flirtatious request. i giggled and said, "no, i don't think so..." he asked again, a little more sternly, "give me your ring as a gift." i became annoyed, "no!" "give me your ring!" he said. "NO!"
the men went away, or so i thought. but, before i knew it the men had entered the bus and filled the seats surrounding hannah and me. we were trapped. the man who had been asking for my ring had taken the seat in front of us. he turned and said, "give me your ring." i didn't understand what the big deal about my ring was. it was probably worth $8. a friend had given it to me and i had been wearing it for many years. i rarely even thought about it. but the fact that someone was trying to take it made me mad! so, i refused.
faster than you can say "oh shit" this man was over the seat, grabbing at my hands and my purse. from somewhere else more hands were added to this scrambling tangle, including my own. i scratched, i slapped, i defended that $8 ring.
in the end, the bus driver bravely came to the back of the bus and asked the men to leave. that bus driver risked his life for me and my cheap piece of silver. you see, most likely those men were gang members. and i've heard it told that at that time gangs controlled the buses. they would demand money from the drivers and sometimes kill the drivers who refused. i was reprimanded by every honduran i knew. i still feel ashamed that i did not just hand over that ring. i could have avoided a lot of conflict.
the truth is, we live in a desperate world. conflict abounds. and by conflict i do not mean just war. what i'm describing here is a conflict of interests. you see, what seemed like a cheap piece of probably fake silver to me, was seen as "food" or "opportunity" for someone else. my $8 ring was wealth to another.
in my last post i described my personal struggle with diamonds and their bloody past. but, the truth is that probably 98% of diamonds sold today are labeled "conflict free." that is, the money made by the diamond industry no longer goes towards funding war. but what is your definition of "conflict?" this is the other reason why i do not wear diamonds, and it's probably the more important one.
here are just a few facts:
* in 2005, about 10.1 million children died before they reached their fifth birthday. Almost all of these deaths occured in developing countries, 3/4 of them in sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia, the two regions that also suffer from the highest rates of hunger and malnutrition.
* worldwide, more than 1 billion people currently live below the international poverty line, earning less than $1 per day
*In the United States alone, 14-20 million PCs are thrown out each year
now, i wanted to find a fact about how much of the world's resources the US uses in comparison to the rest of the world, but i think that last fact makes the same point. conflict of interest. children are dying and people in the US have enough money not only to buy a PC but to throw it away and buy another one!
how you define "conflict" determines whether or not you think diamonds are "conflict free." to me, men made billionaires by diamonds dug by people who struggle to eat is a conflict. i stand by my last post in saying that we cannot single-handedly fight every battle that presents itself to us. we would be running in circles! and, i still could care less whether or not you have a little sparkle on a certain finger. but i, for one, do not want to wear something on my finger that costs more than what one person somewhere else will make in a lifetime. i do not ever want to have something that means so much to me that i am not willing to give it up to someone who is desperate enough to rob me for it, unless that thing is brett. -sn
by the way, one day a few years back i lost that silver ring. it flew off my finger in my sister's yard. i didn't even care. they probably mowed over it...that ring that i fought off robbers for...
as i sat there, boiling in the heat, i did not notice the small posse of men that had gathered beneath my window, admiring my hand. the flash of silver encircling my finger had attracted them. one of the men looked up at me and said, "give me your ring as a gift." i peered out the window at him and mistook his demand as a flirtatious request. i giggled and said, "no, i don't think so..." he asked again, a little more sternly, "give me your ring as a gift." i became annoyed, "no!" "give me your ring!" he said. "NO!"
the men went away, or so i thought. but, before i knew it the men had entered the bus and filled the seats surrounding hannah and me. we were trapped. the man who had been asking for my ring had taken the seat in front of us. he turned and said, "give me your ring." i didn't understand what the big deal about my ring was. it was probably worth $8. a friend had given it to me and i had been wearing it for many years. i rarely even thought about it. but the fact that someone was trying to take it made me mad! so, i refused.
faster than you can say "oh shit" this man was over the seat, grabbing at my hands and my purse. from somewhere else more hands were added to this scrambling tangle, including my own. i scratched, i slapped, i defended that $8 ring.
in the end, the bus driver bravely came to the back of the bus and asked the men to leave. that bus driver risked his life for me and my cheap piece of silver. you see, most likely those men were gang members. and i've heard it told that at that time gangs controlled the buses. they would demand money from the drivers and sometimes kill the drivers who refused. i was reprimanded by every honduran i knew. i still feel ashamed that i did not just hand over that ring. i could have avoided a lot of conflict.
the truth is, we live in a desperate world. conflict abounds. and by conflict i do not mean just war. what i'm describing here is a conflict of interests. you see, what seemed like a cheap piece of probably fake silver to me, was seen as "food" or "opportunity" for someone else. my $8 ring was wealth to another.
in my last post i described my personal struggle with diamonds and their bloody past. but, the truth is that probably 98% of diamonds sold today are labeled "conflict free." that is, the money made by the diamond industry no longer goes towards funding war. but what is your definition of "conflict?" this is the other reason why i do not wear diamonds, and it's probably the more important one.
here are just a few facts:
* in 2005, about 10.1 million children died before they reached their fifth birthday. Almost all of these deaths occured in developing countries, 3/4 of them in sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia, the two regions that also suffer from the highest rates of hunger and malnutrition.
* worldwide, more than 1 billion people currently live below the international poverty line, earning less than $1 per day
*In the United States alone, 14-20 million PCs are thrown out each year
now, i wanted to find a fact about how much of the world's resources the US uses in comparison to the rest of the world, but i think that last fact makes the same point. conflict of interest. children are dying and people in the US have enough money not only to buy a PC but to throw it away and buy another one!
how you define "conflict" determines whether or not you think diamonds are "conflict free." to me, men made billionaires by diamonds dug by people who struggle to eat is a conflict. i stand by my last post in saying that we cannot single-handedly fight every battle that presents itself to us. we would be running in circles! and, i still could care less whether or not you have a little sparkle on a certain finger. but i, for one, do not want to wear something on my finger that costs more than what one person somewhere else will make in a lifetime. i do not ever want to have something that means so much to me that i am not willing to give it up to someone who is desperate enough to rob me for it, unless that thing is brett. -sn
by the way, one day a few years back i lost that silver ring. it flew off my finger in my sister's yard. i didn't even care. they probably mowed over it...that ring that i fought off robbers for...
posted by SN at 5:53 AM
3 Comments:
I hate to reveal my ignorance, but what is a PC? Did I miss something in this post?
a PC computer. you were in japan too long...
sorry..."PC" stands for personal computer
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