My Green Shirt

I woke up this morning and got myself dressed. I'm sort of proud about that though I don't know why. I put the ensemble together myself, sans garanimals, put my pants on one leg at a time, remembered to put my underwear on first, and didn't wear my undershirt backwards. All in all, a win.

I put on my green, button down shirt. Neck size 16.5, sleeves, 34-35. I noticed the tag -- "Made in Indonesia."

I have never been to Indonesia but it struck me that somewhere in Indonesia, maybe in Indonesia City or something, there is a big building, and every day, some guy woke up in his bed in some suburb (the city of Indonesiaville?) and his day plan was something like this:

8AM -- go to work in big building
8:10 -- start making green, button down shirts.
5 PM -- go home.
Tomorrow -- repeat

That's it. He makes shirts. I don't know how but that's his life. Sometimes maybe the neck is 17 or 17.5 or the sleeves are 35. Maybe he specializes in green shirts, or maybe he can wake up on Tuesday and think "today, I'll make blue shirts" but once he is done with one shirt, he just starts on another. Shirts. He doesn't make culottes, or hats unless he has a second job (though I would guess that moonlighting as a haberdasher is rare in Indonesia).

I wake up in the morning with the prospect of engaging in meaningful conversations about intellectually stimulating topics. I will explore my spirituality, learn and change. I will go to bed a different person because I have challenged and been challenged. On some days, I will wake up with a completely different plan in mind. Maybe I'll go to the park, or watch a game. I could take a trip, or sleep late. I have places to eat and options galore. Tomorrow, I can make a completely different choice. And that guy is still waking up to make a green shirt.

But without that shirt, I have no shirt! My life of relative ease and freedom is contingent on the hard and consistent work or some guy in Indonesia. To a similar degree, pants! What the hey?

I need to take stock. I'm used to counting my blessings each day and appreciating what I have, but I also need to consider how I got what I have and on whose back I am standing when I reach for my shoes, my dishes, that pen, that orange juice. I enjoy my life because of the sacrifices they make to ensure their own. I am being blessed by the hard work of thousands and millions of nameless, faceless people in countries I will never visit, and what am I putting back into society that makes someone else's day, week or life more reasonable (and without any formal thanks)?

These should be humbling thoughts -- appreciate each and every thing you see and have access to. Take nothing for granted. It is too easy to forget that we only exist by the good graces of so many other people on this planet.