hell on earth

So....I know I'm behind, but Sara and I watched "Million Dollar Baby" this past weekend. We figured that it was one of those movies that won every award out there and maybe we should see it. So after several years since it has been out we watched it. As with most movies Sara and I tend to talk about them afterwards. Lately pretty much every movie has resulted in us trying to integrate our theology with the context of the film. Ergo, we have Million Dollar Baby. At the very end *no spoiler, don't worry* when Clint Eastwood is presented with a choice of assisting in the death of Hilary Swank he has to make an enormously difficult decision. End her life as she has requested or keep her alive and help her see that life is a beautiful thing and if anyone can do it, she can.

As Sara and me discussed this, the question was brought up on what we would do and if we were presented with this decision. Clearly the first thought and to many the only thought you could have would be to keep them alive. But what if keeping the person alive was literally hell for them. Now, I am not claiming to understand how heaven and hell work, but, is it possible to have your version of hell here on earth? I think of someone who has had a horrific accident and now has to live their life unable to move anything besides their mouth to blow into a straw as to maintain extremely limited functionality. I feel like this is maybe this person's version of hell. Maybe they were once highly active and and seemingly limitless mobility. (now of course this is saying that there is something wrong with someone who is in this state. Does someone who functions in this way have something wrong with them because they can't walk, talk, function like the majority of humanity? That is a whole other topic to be discussed. Maybe it is us who has something wrong with us in thinking someone in this state needs our pity, sympathy or concern?)

Maybe it's an elderly person who has lived a great life and is suffering with cancer or chronic pain. They ask for their life to be taken from them because they will spend the remainder of their life on a hospital bed accruing massive amounts of debt and used resources and most importantly in nearly unbearable pain. Does it seem just to keep this person alive in what they might say feels like hell, because it can get no worse. Do we let them suffer?  Of course you can put almost any scenario in place and ask if it could be hell for someone? Maybe it's not hell, maybe it's just a bad circumstance that happens to random people but I think it is something worth thinking about and asking the question?

Does hell exist here on earth and not just in some made up after life that no one one earth really knows about?!?!?

when does god play a role and when does god not

My question recently has been when does God play a role in what is happening here on earth? sure if you're a pantheist then god is all over in everything and working in all things ever. i am not that. but sometimes things happen and it makes me wonder "is God a part of these events and if so what is God trying to say, if anything." If God is not a part of it, then it could just be a string of events that is either good or bad. Usually when it's bad the question that follows is "what is God trying to teach me in this?" My typical response is, maybe nothing, maybe it's just something that is really shitty and we need to move on. I tend to error on that side of thinking.
Here is my current example. This is just a minutiae compared to greater things on this earth, such as natural disasters, deaths, crime, winning the lottery, cancer, etc....

We were planning to go to cyprus to visit sara's dad and family but thought with our finances we should get squared away with that first and then plan a trip somewhere. so we thought maybe we'd do a small inexpensive ski trip up north in lutsen. well that fell through and in the end we were happy because the water heater went out when we were supposed to go on a ski trip and we had a ton of water in our basement. so within a week we've had several thousands of dollars mount up to create more debt in our lives. I asked myself if God had a role in these trips falling through because of all the things that happened. Well of course this leads to more questions like: would God have halted these trips if he knew all these expenses would happen? does God even work that way? does God even know what's going to happen before it happens? or does God know all the options that are possible and lets them play out by allowing us to interact in the world? why not just lets us go on the trips and keep the 4 year old water heater working for 10 more years? were we supposed to learn something in this? have we "sinned" and are now being punished? were we irresponsible with our money and now God is teaching us a lesson? if so what is that lesson?

I think you get it. When does God play a role events on earth? The earthquake in Japan is a great example. Was it God? I'm sure some evangelist will say it is some sort of sin in Japan that God got pissed and did this to them. I think those people are freaking crazy. This is where I respond with, sometimes really shitty things happen in this world and this is one of those times. It is unbelievably sad and tragic and I think it is our responsibility as humans to react when things like this happen, and by react, I mean helping in ways that we can.

I don't know. just some thoughts about God working here on earth. How, When, Why, Where and What is God doing? Sometimes knowing when God is present seems easy, but then again, in those moments, I may be wrong, it may not be God. Maybe it is? Do you just go with your gut feeling and call that God or not God? If that is the case, I feel like that could be very harmful/limiting/etc...to the image and truth of who God is. The people at these baptist churches who are protesting military funerals are representing God. Their gut and view of scripture is telling them one thing and they are representing God to many people in a negative light. Maybe the gut is not always the best source.

Help? Thoughts? Comments?

unjust working conditions. child labor. and sweatshops.

http://www.laborrights.org/sites/default/files/publications-and-resources/sweatshop_hall_shame_2010.pdf

Sweatshop Hall of Shame 2010 

The Sweatshop Hall of Shame 2010 highlights apparel and textile companies that use 

sweatshops in their global production. Hall of Shame inductees are responsible for evading 

fair labor standards and often are slow to respond or provide no response at all to any 

attempts by the International Labor Rights Forum (ILRF), workers, or others to improve 

working conditions. 

  

The official inductees of the 2010 Sweatshop Hall of Shame are: Abercrombie and Fitch, 

Gymboree, Hanes, Ikea, Kohl’s, LL Bean, Pier 1 Imports, Propper International, 

and Walmart.  This list also includes an Honorable Mention to the American Apparel and 

Footwear Association, a national trade association representing apparel and footwear 

companies.  This association has exhibited a flagrant disregard for workers’ rights by 

primarily focusing on maintaining trade with Honduras in the middle of a military coup.   

Most of the companies listed employ laborers who toil for long hours under dangerous 

working conditions for poverty wages. When these workers attempt to form a union to voice 

their collective concerns, they face threats from management and risk being fired or even 

beaten.  Many of this years’ inductees use suppliers that practice illegal tactics to suppress 

workers’ rights to organize.  Some of the companies mentioned weave shame into their 

clothing by continuing to use cotton sourced from Uzbekistan where harvesting is 

accomplished through forced child labor. 

Though this list highlights the most abhorrent of companies, they are certainly not the only 

offenders. They represent a mere sample of a global industry in which brands have 

persistently flouted the rights of workers for more than a decade.  

Don’t despair - not all is bad news in the clothing industry.  For many years, the 

International Labor Rights Forum and SweatFree Communities have published the Shop 

with a Conscience Consumer Guide – a list identifying “sweatfree” options for the ever- 

increasing number of consumers interested in buying clothing made under ethical and 

worker-friendly conditions.  You can find out more at www.Sweatfree.org/shoppingguide.  

Also, be sure to follow the Act Now links below to let the companies on this shameful list 

know you are fed up with their irresponsibility.   

THE HALL OF SHAME 

Gymboree, Hanes, LL Bean: Guess who’s working for them now -- 

forced child labor.    

Uzbekistan is the world’s second largest exporter of cotton. The Uzbek 

government has mandated children as young as seven to work in cotton 

fields during the late summer harvest, when they would normally begin 

school each year. Some children are even forced to stay in dormitories in 

remote areas while they pick cotton.  

While over 25 companies have committed to boycotting the use of Uzbek 

cotton until the government ends its abusive labor practices, there are still 

many companies that haven’t stepped up to the plate.  Gymboree, Hanes, 

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and LL Bean have been contacted and yet they refuse to concretely address this pervasive 

problem.    

  

Act NOW! 

Urge these companies to boycott Uzbek cotton and institute a company-wide (which 

includes their cotton suppliers) human rights policy, banning child labor and upholding core 

labor rights.   

For more information visit ILRF’s Uzbek cotton webpage. 

  

  

Propper International: Treating Workers like Machines 

Propper International produces uniforms for state police, local government agencies and the 

federal government.  It is the largest military uniform supplier in the U.S.  Even the most 

hardened soldiers wearing these uniforms would likely be appalled at the conditions workers 

face at Propper’s suppliers in the Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico.  

Struggling to reach excessive production quotas in the Dominican Republic, workers toil 12 

hours or more a day, are forced to skip breaks and are prevented from using the bathroom, 

according to a recent report by SweatFree Communities.  Workers have reported extreme 

exhaustion in the stifling heat of the factory and unhealthy working conditions from the 

thick fabric dust clogging the factory’s air.  In Puerto Rico, workers barely earn above the 

minimum wage and have filed a lawsuit against Propper 

because the company refused to allow for vacation and 

sick days in accordance with the law. 

Factory personnel have placed extreme pressure on 

union organizers and supporters, who have been 

harassed, fired and blacklisted from future employment. 

The factory’s anti-union campaign includes holding 

workers in anti-union lectures and hanging anti-union 

banners outside the facility.  According to the Dominican 

Labor Department, in 2000 nearly 200 union members 

were unjustly fired and only 30 were reinstated.  

Act NOW! 

Contact CEO Tom Kellim at tomk@propper.com to let him know that workers have a right to 

freedom of association and to organize a union to bargain for better wages, benefits and 

working conditions.  Urge the company to cease its harassment of union supporters and let 

the workers decide for themselves whether they want to form a union, in an environment 

free of fear and intimidation. 

Pier 1 Imports: Importing Vile Labor Practices 

Illegal suspensions, poverty wages  

According to Pier 1 Imports’ Code of Ethics, “Pier 1 Imports is 

committed to conducting its business with a high standard of 

business ethics, in compliance with applicable laws and with a 

regard for human rights and fair labor practices.” 

Not at the Paul Yu factory, a Pier 1 supplier in Lapu-Lapu City, 

Philippines, where more than 200 workers were unjustly 

suspended for organizing a workers association. The extensive 

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use of temporary workers has resulted in five out of six employees being contract workers 

at the factory. Contract work, by law, can only be for a maximum period of six months, but 

many contractual employees at Paul Yu have been working at the site for several years.  

These workers earn lower wages, receive few benefits, do not enjoy security of tenure and 

do not have collective bargaining rights. 

ILRF tried to communicate with Pier 1 but the company refused to take any meaningful 

action.  Because of Pier 1’s intransigence and the workers’ dire need to support their 

families, the suspended workers eventually accepted a meager severance package from the 

factory.  The workers of Paul Yu are a testament to how companies like Pier 1 continuously 

fail to meet their own Corporate Social Responsibility commitment. 

Ikea, Kohl’s and Walmart: Always Low Morals 

Harassment; Unsafe Conditions  

These furniture and discount giants all purchase bed linens from the Menderes Tekstil 

factory in Denizili, Turkey. At this factory, four workers died as a result of unsafe working 

conditions.  In another example of disingenuous “corporate social responsibility,” IKEA, the 

factory’s primary buyer, commissioned an audit on labor conditions at the site and 

concluded that there were no major labor problems at Menderes.   

Factory officials have adopted an anti-union attitude by intimidating 

union organizers and dismissing workers associated with the union.  

Walmart, Ikea and Kohl’s have all but ignored requests from ILRF and 

others to work together to resolve the factory issues; the companies 

have remained secretive and uncooperative.  The buyers of this 

factory must send a direct signal to the factory management indicating 

the need to negotiate with workers.  

Act NOW! 

Write a letter or send an e-mail to Walmart and Kohl’s urging them to 

take immediate action.  

For more information on the Menderes Tekstil factory, visit ILRF’s 

website or Clean Clothes Campaign.  

Abercrombie & Fitch—Illegal Suspensions; Delayed Bargaining 

Abercrombie and Fitch (A&F) clothing is manufactured at Alta Mode factory in the 

Philippines. Employees of the factory sought to form a union to address concerns and on the 

day the Alta Mode Worker’s Union was to be certified, all of the more than 100 union 

members and officers were placed on forced leave, a clear case of employer interference in 

the exercise of the right to unionize and an unfair labor practice by law. Workers have 

struggled for a union as an antidote to a production quota set beyond human capacity. 

It is essential for A&F to send a strong signal to the factory that freedom of association 

violations will not be tolerated.  The A&F supplier has even filed criminal cases against the 

union members.  This factory case is a clear example of the flagrant disregard for the law by 

garment factory owners in the Philippines. 

Unfortunately A&F doesn’t even have a public code of conduct and utilizes factory inspectors 

that have missed glaring issues such as the ones highlighted in the Alta Mode factory.  One 

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major concern is that A&F shifts its production around from factory to factory which results 

in lack of stable orders at the factory.  ILRF encourages A&F to build long term meaningful 

relationships with suppliers so that their standards around wages, overtime and freedom of 

association are clearly enforced.  

Act NOW! 

Next time you shop at Abercrombie and Fitch, take 

the time to ask about labor standards at the 

factories that produce A&F and Hollister clothing.  

Encourage the company to be more transparent 

about it’s expectations for suppliers. 

For more information, visit ILRF’s Alta Mode factory 

profile. 

HONORABLE MENTION 2010 

In June 2009, Honduran President Manuel Zelaya was ousted from office by a military coup.   

Zelaya has supported workers’ rights, for example, by passing an order six months prior to 

being removed from office which increased the minimum wage to cover nearly 90 percent of 

basic needs, according to the AFL-CIO.  This increase has benefitted many workers, namely 

the 25 percent of Hondurans who work in the apparel manufacturing industry and were 

previously paid poverty wages.  

Honduran workers unions believed the coup regime would reverse such progressive 

measures and called on the international community to halt production, trade and transport 

with Honduras so as to isolate the regime and limit its power.  In light of this, seven U.S. 

trade groups, including the American Apparel and Footwear Association (AAFA), collaborated 

on a letter sent to President Obama on July 10, 2009 urging him to “secure U.S. economic 

relations” with Honduras—a subtle way of requesting the avoidance an embargo and 

continue trading/purchasing goods from Honduras.  It is of grave concern that through its 

letter, the AAFA was concerned solely for its business interests in Honduras—given that 

Honduras is the fourth largest apparel supplier to the U.S, according to the U.S. Department 

of Commerce.  For this reason the AAFA earns an honorable mention in the Hall of Shame.   

On the other hand, another letter was sent by adidas Group, Nike Inc., Knights Apparel and 

Gap Inc. to U.S. Secretary of State Hilary Clinton on July 28, 2009 that took a different 

approach.   The joint letter urged the US not to ignore the situation in Honduras and called 

for “restoration of democracy in Honduras.”  The letter pointed out the need to respect 

freedom of association and requested “peaceful, democratic dialogue” to end the conflict.  

ILRF applauds these companies for speaking out regarding the situation.  

cynicism.

The last few weeks/months I have felt as if I’ve just been a cynic when it comes to most things in life. This usually plays itself out by me questioning, judging and critiquing issues or people. If you were one of those people, I apologize. When I look back I wonder if cynicism can be a good thing? I’ve always known the word to have a negative connotation to it. However, I think have come to a place where I believe cynicism can be good and bad. If it were a good thing, others may call it healthy skepticism and those who view it as bad, would still call it cynicism, but I do think there is a balance that can be obtained. On one side, I think asking too few of questions or having minimal experiences can make one naive and on the other end you have cynicism. I tend to land on the side currently that makes me afraid of asking too many questions where I lose what I’m most passionate about, “doing.” I do not want to be the person who sits and wonders and asks questions all day and loses site of what Christ actually did most. Jesus served others. Walked with God. Was humble. Loved others well. So I am at this place where I’m trying to find this balance. Asking questions, but not ONLY asking questions and focusing on attaining the answers.

As I observe my thoughts on the Bible and in particular the authors who wrote each book, I error on the side of wanting to only believe the Gospels because those are the more directly related historical records of Christ. I tend to, at this point of my life, want to stay away from Paul. After all, is he not just trying to live out what Christ modeled? So why would I choose to model my life after someone who was human like all of us and may have interpreted Christ incorrectly? Here is where my cynicism escalates. I even question the authors of the Gospels. They were human like us. How do we know they understood their own time correctly? How could they have possibly recorded conversations with Christ accurately, being that the books were written after many of the Paul’s letters. We misinterpret God all the time. We think God tells us one thing and then later in life we realize maybe that wasn’t God, or maybe I had it wrong the whole time, maybe God was actually telling me something completely different. This happens to me and I have heard it happen with SO many people. How do we know this isn’t the case with the Gospels, Paul’s letters, the OT, manuscripts, etc….

Yeah of course I would love to believe everything I read unequivocally. I want to trust that “all scripture is inspired by God” as Timothy reads, they, that being the authors, Paul et all, were writing what they felt God was telling them. But then I immediately compare them to the people who kill others because they felt God was telling them to. Or the people who oppress others and justify it because “it’s in the bible.” So many things get God’s name attached to it that does more damage than good in my opinion which is partially why I am faced with these questions.

My questions do not come based off lack of knowledge of the Bible. Now of course I do not know or fully comprehend or understand all that the Bible is telling me. And yes, it can only help to continue reading and trying to learn, I get that. No, my dilemma is more that I do not believe that the author is without fault in his/her writing and interpretation and therefore I’m left with searching for what is true and what is not. For every book, commentary, article, etc… I read with one view/interpretation I can find another that has the opposite view/interpretation that sounds just as compelling. So, as with most things lately, the more I read, the more questions I come up with. I get “it’s all part of the journey” and I’m supposed to enjoy it, but sometimes the gray is not as fun as just “knowing.” As someone once said “it’s called faith and by that I believe.” That sounds good too, but doesn’t seem to sync with me that easily.

urban/suburban school partnerships. north high school. good or bad.

as a continuation from my previous post i want to talk about where to draw the line on schooling. I coached for an urban school this past fall and found myself loving it. As much as was afraid as a white dude going into a primarily african american setting, I loved it. I was afraid because I did not know if there was anything I could do to help. Was it my place to help? What needed to be helped for that matter? As a white man could I offer anything to these kids or were they offering something to me? The decision to get involved was to be more active in my community and it led me to this high school. I was fortunate enough to have been asked to join the staff as an assistant coach and work with the kids. I spent May - November with them and it was eye opening. Listening to the conversations and seeing the emotional reactions to what I would consider are minute things in life, really shocked me. Seeing these students and athletes every day for several months allowed me to see a little piece of their life. It sucked me in like a magnet. I wanted to know more and I wanted to see what I could do to be more of a support to the schools and the students. That is all to say I have grown to want to be more involved and a part of the these kids and kids like them. My passion in this leads me to my subject.

I recently did a research project on integration in schools in the Twin Cities for my grad school application. This all centered around the possibility of North High School getting shut down. In a nutshell, I learned the NAACP has a funded program called "Choice Is Your's" where money is offered to families on low income to bus their kids to partnering suburban schools to "get a better education" because the Minneapolis Public Schools, specifically North High School is not properly educating students. After my research I have realized that I do not think the answer is sending kids out of their communities. I do not feel that sending these kids to white suburban schools is helping with their education, especially when many of these schools do not have the capacity to teach and relate with urban students. The culture is different, the language is different, and therefore the relationships between teacher and student have to be different. In addition to that, there are an estimated 10,000 kids in North Minneapolis alone that are not even attending school. THAT is a problem!  I understand with Minneapolis changing the zoning laws and not allowing bussing between North and South Mpls has changed some things and funding in North Mpls causes problems too, but is there something that can be done? Sure some of these students getting bussed out are learning in classes, but many are not. Many are not reaping any benefits from these schools and then they are spending an hour or more on a bus traveling back and forth from home. But what is the alternative? Dropping out of school? Never attending high school? Joining a gang? Trying to find a job to support the family? If they do find a job, it is most likely an under paying job. I just want to see all kids with an opportunity to go to school and succeed.
I would love if anyone could shed more light on this. I do not claim to know everything there is to know about this situation and clearly I cannot write everything I learned in my research. I also do not want to be naive to the fact that this exists and I would welcome the chance to learn more about it.
I do know that these kids need an education or this world is not going to be kind to them. There has to be something that can be done.