SPIRITUALITY, FAIR TRADE AND SOCIAL JUSTICE
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20	November 2013

The Jewelcrest of Wisdom/The Transformation of Work

Text #1
"To transform one person is to begin the process of transforming many people. If our modern workplace is to become more humane, caring, and devoted to the well-being of people and less obsessed with the short-term efficiency and profit, then that larger transportation must begin one person at a time."

This is an adept observation by Richmond. Instead of making an overarching suggestion to the system as a whole, she instead suggests to the individual to make the difference. Companies and Organizations are "a sum of all the parts." These parts are us and we are the ones that dictate change since the system is a product of us. If we each individually make a concerted effort to change the way we treat work and the mentality of "dog eat dog" then we can work to create a more fair and equitable system that benefits not only us but also our peers. Those that the system disregards and leaves in the abyss can then have an opportunity to contribute and support themselves. People are not all capable of pure genius or incredible responsibility but that doesn't mean they are useless. Our society has become to results driven and too based on social status and the acquisition of material goods and money. We need to see the possibility of change and take direct action at making it happen.

Text #2
"Most human suffering and injustice has its origins in desire- desire for wealth, power, security, safety and long life."

This age old buddhist philosophy is so true and prevalent for contemporary western society. One of the shortcomings of education is that the way that our system is designed kids get educated for the sake of getting a cush job and acquiring capital. Therefore the end of the education train equals money. Kids a lot of times are not genuinely interested in the subject of their studies but rather the the money or status that the subject of their study will yield. Kids fail to follow their academic passions or beliefs in order to fit in and get a job that makes them feel elite or in line with their peers. Jobs on Wallstreet have insane demand and a surplus of qualified candidates. Meanwhile teaching jobs in inner city schools have deficit of qualified candidates and have to settle for teachers that aren't capable of the task at hand. A lot of times it takes more skills, especially people skills and makes more of an impact if one chose to be a teacher versus a corporate soldier. However, the reality is that people will choose money over passion and good will. A teacher who teaches in the nasty areas of New York City basically has to live in that nasty area. Whereas a Wall Streeter gets to live in a nice apartment in a safe nice community. This is a long standing issue that can only be changed by a systematic change led by people to reorganize the pay and social status of our jobs.