SMU Bubble

These are the faces of the hurting and the voiceless...



Today in my Gender and Sex Roles class we watched the film Maquilapolis. Simplified, it is a documentary based on the treatment of the People of Tijuana. This place, this Maquilapolis ( City of Factories) is where companies like Sanyo and Panasonic basically outsource their assembly work to the people living in this border city.
In the film the people of Tijuana voluntarily work at these factories in such filthy conditions because there are so many people and not enough jobs. Working conditions, especially those at Panasonic, are completely ridiculous. The people there don't get to drink water nor use the restroom for the simple fact that the should be completely engulfed in there work.

I sat in class fighting back tears the entire time. Tears resulting majorly due to their standard of living, but also to the realization that there is nothing I really can do about any of it. It pains me to say that though i don't feel like I live in the SMU bubble, I do realize that I have been so sheltered and never realized how painfully ignorant U.S. Americans are. The class was only 50 minutes but it honestly felt like a lifetime of suffering through such a devastating film. I know there may not be any great BIG IDEA now, but honestly I'm determined to figure out something I can do to help. I do realize that if everyone had the same I'm-only-one-person-what-can-I-do attitude, nothing at all would be done. I guess my BIG IDEA is that It only takes one person to make a difference. (Definitely check out the film when you get a chance. It'll will change the way you view life and American living.)