Laboring for an answer

Over the past few years, I've struggled to figure out what it is that bothers me about returning to India. I've acknowledged that part of the reason is my changed belief system, and the fact that being away from my support network would be incredibly difficult, and also that my purpose in pursuing my law degree has a narrow, largely domestic application, at least in the short run. I think I might have figured out the rest - or at least a very large part of the rest.

I read, or rather briefly skimmed, this article in the NY Times - "Stricter Law Fails to Diminish the Demand for Child Laborers in India"

India has no outright ban on child labor and had long allowed the employment of children under 14 in all but what are deemed “hazardous” occupations. But last October a stricter law took effect; it prohibits the employment of children under 14 in hotels and restaurants, and as domestic servants.

Five months later, children’s rights advocates say, the law has had little effect. Under-age children, mostly girls, are as in demand as ever to be maids and nannies.

This is the world that I lived in, although as I recall, I don't think any of our domestic help (for lack of a better term) was under 14 - but I wouldn't rule it out. In fact, I think that when I was very young (a toddler perhaps) there was a young girl that lived in our house - probably not much older than I was, who helped take care of me (yes, the silver spoon was delicately placed in my mouth) - however, I recall that she was more of a constant playmate than anything else.

Does this bother me? To some extent it does - what was so special about me that I was given the opportunity to be educated, and the little girl didn't? It's a fundamental question of fairness, and I suppose the usual contemplation over the cards that we are dealt*. I also believe that its not just a privilege, but also a responsibility - in this instance, to encourage the upliftment of those that are less privileged and therefore, more susceptible to injustice.

Then again, the flip side of the coin is - is this notion of fundamental human rights a predominately western ideal? Don't get me wrong - I'm a firm believer in our common humanity, but I was prompted to think about this issue a little differently after an event at school last week. It was suggested that the UN Declaration of Human Rights (UNDHR) was a codification of predominately western ideals of human rights (only one non-westerner was a part of the committee that drafted it), and secondly, that human rights aren't mandated by humans, they were mandated by the divine. This is not to suggest in any way that Indian labor laws are not unjust and unfair, but merely a different lens with which to view the world.

Sometimes I think that Indian society is in a huge quagmire - they have a massive population, largely uneducated and living below the poverty line - and not alot of resources to do much. How do you convince a family that it is more important for their children, particularly their daughters, to go to school - to be merely a mouth to feed, rather than hands to work. On the flip side, how do you turn away a child who is willing to work - and often has little choice in the matter, for the higher moral ground of not resorting to child labor - particularly when the other option is that he or she might starve. Ideally, and this isn't a perfect solution, you offer to let her work/live in your home, but also offer to give her access to an education, thereby investing in her future. Flip the coin back - there are alot of children that have no desire to educate themselves, or to put in the hard work ... do you then either (a) force them to go to school (which they still may play hookey from), or (b) give in, and hope that you've been able to help someone gain a livelihood.

This is the problem that I have with returning home - dealing with these real life problems, and competing realities. Taking responsibility for things that are so much bigger than you or me, because that is the position you have been assigned. I find it much simpler to deal with just my own reality, or this largely intellectual and relatively sophisticated battle of civil rights. Its one thing to be able to deal with problems and mistreatment by created by the history of a society, and it is quite another to deal with a situation that was inherited as a result of colonization by another.

And yes, it is easier to write from a soap box, into the infinite abyss that is the internet, rather than actually go out into the surprisingly finite, and closely interrelated world, and work in it.


*I don't literally mean that I believe that our lives are so random as the dealing of cards - but its an metaphor! Ok, I admit - improperly used!! but it sounds good! :)