my soul was made in china, and other tidbits

It is no secret that everything we buy was made in China. Now I am even certain that if you go out of your way to buy handmade items that your close friends make, or shop at local bazaars, the raw materials they used were somehow made in the orient. The very fabric then of what we do and act like is entirely manufactured by the hard working people in China.

If we decide to be GREEN and recycle, most of what we ship to the recycling plant, gets bailed and shipped on liners all the way to China to be re-manufactured into aluminum bats or bicycles that we end up purchasing at a later day. It can be argued that everything we buy, whether it be for fashion, activity, or entertainment, makes up who we are, how we are viewed, and what label we carry.

It really does not matter if we have steady work or steady activity, because at times we are too occupied with keeping up with our label. There are endless amounts of these labels; hip hop, hipster, sporty, cowboy, hobo, green, fixie-rider, rock and roller, punk rocker, indie, artsy, suicide girl, emo, drinker, smoker, yuppy.. or other etc.'s that emit a label based simply on what we buy.


There are others that label us more on what we can accomplish throughout the day but still, to some extent, are based upon what we buy. We can't really do something without buying something to do it with first right? These are graphic designers, muralists, street artists, business men, baristas, bicyclists, truckers, musicians, skaters, runners, doctors, writers, readers, retailers, juicers, and all those other etc.'s that label us based on what we do.

I have a difficult time finding any one of these things that don't require us to use  foreign trade. Is foreign trade bad? Consider that the money spent on importing all of these items far outweighs the money spent on keeping Americans healthy. Actually I'd also imagine that the amount of money spent on advertising to keep America UNHEALTHY dramatically outweighs the amount of money spent on local health programs.

To this I say, live it up America! Soon our souls we be fabricated in China as well. China will laugh.