Sweatshop Hall of Shame

For a while now I've been pretty conflicted because I don't know how to break the cycle of poverty. I know, it is a big issue that I cannot break all by myself, but you see, a few blog posts ago I think I was saying that I was depressed over the fact that I buy into so many companies that produce products made by workers in inhumane/unfair wage situations (e.g. many things made in China), or products that destroy the environment (e.g. creams that have palm oil).

But I got an email today from ILRF (International Labour Rights Forum) that really helps. It had a couple articles, and for example, there was one about the Sweatshop Hall of Shame.

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.

I am very very happy to expose these companies to you, so that you will know not to buy from them. And boycotting by itself doesn't work but if you join forces with me and ILRF, together, we can all send petitions to tell them to smarten up and stop using children as workers or stop abusing their workers by paying them only like 1 dollar a day. Or giving workers dangerous working conditions. HA! CAUGHT THEM!

♫ DO NOT BUY FROM IKEA, WALMART OR ABERCROMBIE!!!! http://www.laborrights.org/creating-a-sweatfree-world/sweatshops/resources/12211

Instead, we can all try to buy more from companies that ensure fair trade and equitable working conditions. From now on, I will try to buy more stuff from here:
http://www.sweatfree.org/shoppingguide

I LOVE ILRF. They make it so easy for us to help those who cannot help themselves. Look here, there are many many petitions you can sign. It only takes a minute, honestly. And we can make a world of difference for ages to come:

http://www.laborrights.org/what-you-can-do
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The man who founded World Vision once said this: "Let my heart be broken by the things that break the heart of God."

I find it to be so profound because it shows that God weeps when people suffer and He longs for us to get up from our butts and start helping the world like He did. Not that He cannot do it Himself but for some reason He wants to work through US. Selfish us. He wants us to be like Jesus, who spent countless hours healing the sick and giving the outcasts a place to belong.

Like I have mentioned before, sometimes we gotta stop asking God why he doesn't end suffering. We have to start asking ourselves, why don't I let God use me to end suffering?
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That said, I have to say that I also cause suffering. Just today and yesterday I had a really hard time, me and my mom had so much miscommunication, and we just basically have a rift now between us. I keep saying it's her fault and she keeps saying it's my fault. I don't know how I became so stubborn but I just really wanted my independence. But the thing that started our fight had really very little to do with independence, it had to do with the stupid H1N1 virus. But for some reason I couldn't control my anger and I just basically made it into a fight about independence.

I don't know how I can solve this. I haven't prayed about it to be honest. I need to let down my pride and ask how I'm gonna solve it because if I say sorry she will try to something me again, but if I don't say sorry I will be a rebellious daughter. It's like a catch 22, can't really go either way. So basically I need your prayers and advice. You don't know the situation, but maybe you can let me know how to say sorry for starting the fight without making her feel like she was right about everything in the fight. Dang, it's complicated.

I would know how to solve the problem if my mom was Canadian. But because she is not, I need to figure out how to say "it was all a misunderstanding" in Chinese, and explain all the crap I want to explain all in Chinese. It's hard. We both think differently and express things differently.

I plan to move out in September (or not). I have been saying that I will move out forever, but because I, a) did not want to waste money, b) have Adrian living close to me, and c) sometimes I feel things are getting better with my mom, I did not. But I will now. Cuz I'm gonna be 22 soon and if I still have my mom making my lunch, breakfast and dinner, and do my laundry every day, I'm gonna be one stupid person who doesn't know how to live my own life.

You could say, well why don't you do those things while you are living at home then? I have to tell you, I cannot. Because if I lived on my own, I would live a 5 min. walk from school and thus save about 2 hours every day that I could do my cooking and what not. I also tried cooking at home but no one liked my fried beans with banana. (Yeah go ahead and laugh, I invented that dish, I find it pretty funny too). And something else happened that I cannot say right now.

I think I have made my point. I have talked to several people about moving out and the majority say that it will actually improve my relationship with my parents and actually help my parents let me grow up. As long as I explain clearly why I am moving out (not because I hate them) and leave on a good note.

There we have it.
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(certain parts of this post were censored due to problems relating to someone's image)