saw a comment on a NY times article…randomly, but it kind of spoke to me…
“I was driving down the street one day and saw workers ripping out perfectly good flowers from a bed in an entrance to an expensive neighborhood. It was fall and it was time to change them to fall flowers, en masse. I guess the dirt is pretty much just there to hold the plants upright and to look more or less natural. There is no soil ecosystem here; the plants will be there for a short time and will be supported with chemical fertilizers, pesticide, and weed-killer.
This is how the world works: exploitation without concern for the larger consequences is the name of the game. If you don’t exploit maximally, you’re considered “lazy” (see: excuses for taking land from the native Americans). Not making as much money as you can, any way you can, no matter what harm is caused, is talked about with the emotional force of preachers inveighing against sin.
How much suffering is wrought by our religion of capitalist exploitation?
Ask the students to consider that. Is there a different way to work? Are there lines you don’t want to cross? This would be a discussion that would benefit not just the individual, but the world…..
