Why: Essay

Author's note:  This is an essay that I wrote that goes off of my Why poem.  This essay is actually from parts of my author's note.  I just thought that because I actually worked really hard to write the author's note of my poem, I could turn it into my District Assessment essay.  

All around the world, in Third World countries, millions of people live in poverty.  Many are homeless or live in unbearable conditions with no clean water and little or no food.  Every day to help pay for necessities, they have to work for 16 plus hours in a sweatshop.  You may think that these people don't affect me.  They’re far away and I shouldn’t care.  That is the very opposite.  Look down at what you are wearing…Hollister jeans?  American eagle shirt? Minnetonka Moccasins? Nike shoes? Forever 21 necklace?  Adidas socks?  Pretty much everything you are wearing this very minute was made in China, Indonesia or in some other country.  Everything was most likely made in a sweatshop by the hands of a man, woman or even a young child.

Yet, sweatshops aren't just confined to clothes.  Furniture, toys, school supplies, phones, ipods, computers and other products you use in your everyday lives were made by poverty-bound people across the sea.  Also, you may think, “What is so bad about a sweatshop?  It's just like a factory, right?"   That’s exactly what I used to think, but sweatshops are gigantic buildings stuffed with hundreds and hundreds of workers.  This means no heat if it’s freezing, no air conditioning and most definitely no talking for hours on end. You can't even stop to take a drink of water or to have a snack. After all this hard labor they get paid very little to help support their family with what they need.  A lot of time they have to go without food to pay for medicine or other things they need.  If you think you're a victim because you have to wait twenty minutes for food, you need a reality check.  These people suffer for hours on end with little reward and no escape.

America was built upon the beliefs that everyone is equal before God.  How is this equal in people's eyes?  Children, men and women all over the world are suffering in poverty, and working in sweat shops just to give America's companies cheap labor.  What can we do about this?  How can we help stop child labor across seas?  They say one person can make a difference.  But how does one change the ways of America's oversea businesses?  I want to make a difference, but this issue feels way over my head.  I just feel as if we can do something, by educating people of how these people are being treated.  Just because of what we have done to let this happen to these people.

These people need to be heard.  Their stories need to be told, and their lives need to be shared.  All of their cries and pleading need to be taken into action.  We all need to act together and save this poverty bound generation of people.  The future of an entire people depends on this.  Next time you go to the store for clothes, or complain about your little troubles; think about the sweatshops.  Think about what they go through and the awful conditions.  WHY should they go through this?  WHY aren’t we acting on this?  WHY.