#dignified work

“Labor and Dignity”–Daily Metta “This mad rush for wealth must cease, and the laborer must be assured, not only of a living wage, but a daily task that is not a mere drudgery.”--Gandhi (Harijan, 11-2-1934)

The Sanskrit term svadharma is integral to the vision of a nonviolent world. The concept means that everyone has her or his own life path, that life is about discovering this path and working to stay on it, come wind or rain. It is in traveling this path that we find our greatest power and learning how to navigate the tough spots only makes us more determined. When we have found our calling, or vocation, everything changes. New insights and personal strengths emerge, and we discover the taste of true satisfaction. This is our birthright as human beings.

The heart of svadharma is work. Dignity and work go hand in hand. When we remove dignity from work for personal gain, we have perverted the sacred relationship between them. The more we subvert the purpose of work to the accumulation of wealth and power and the meaningless amassing of material goods, the further we wander from the path and force others to do the same.

Everyone deserves work that dignifies and uplifts us by virtue of our humanity. The more we honor skill building as a key to the development of the spirit, the more our society will evolve large scale models of economic justice and equal rights for all. Everyone has a unique and creative contribution to make to the whole.  Start there, resist nonviolently everywhere else.

Experiment in Non-violence

Review your life. What principle or ideal threads its way throughout? How is that ideal a key to your svadharma?

(Throughout my life i knew that everything around me was temporary. I understood as a baby that i had come before and would come again - just as those raising me had the same experience, albeit unconsciously. It was difficult at first, as my family and the culture of the community did not understand what i meant. The closest they came was trying to put my life into the framework of cycles of life and death. But this misses the point - we are born with nonviolence as our core being, it is only through education, be it formal or in the streets/home/where ever that we abberate from our true calling.

Yet an immense power comes from dedication to nonviolence. For instance my best friend, David, moved to India as a child for three years and it was unclear when he would return. One day i stepped out of school and felt he was home. So i encouraged my mother to go to his home so i could see him. This encouragement was a small temper tantrum where i simply said i wouldnt get into the car unless we went to David’s. Despite her assurance that he was not home and wouldnt be coming home for a month or two, she drove me. Once we arrived she said ‘See, David isn’t here.’ At that moment David’s family rolled into the driveway. They had just returned from India. I simply hugged David and we went inside and played. I was 9 or 10 years old, i think.

“Good morning how are you I am fine please come again,” she fires words off in rapid succession. In the early days she said she couldn't learn- she avoided all the classes, Bangla, English. It all just seemed too hard to her. As did everything else. Uneducated. Abandoned by her husband. Abandoned by her family. Deserted by everyone who should have treasured her. Forced into a brothel. Then the harsh streets of Dhaka.

She found Children's Uplift Program. And they did all they could to find work for her. But she couldn't learn to read and write. She couldn't focus to sew or make their beaded jewellery. They invested in a tea stall for her to run. But her tea... sometimes it's good, but sometimes there's too much sugar, sometimes too much milk. She had customers, but someone without power- they can't always get their customers to pay. What wasn't taken or sold, she drank, until her pulse raced and she'd lie awake all night. It was soon clear this enterprise was not going to succeed. It was time to count the losses and admit failure.

Basha came into being. But she still couldn't sew, and the kantha blanket, a product all Bengali women are familiar with and can typically learn, for her was impossible. She began helping with day care. But a woman who can't read, how can she help the children learn? And her frustrations with herself and the stress of the job- she'd sometimes pound her head on the wall and collapse in tears.

And now she cleans. And when the office floors are clean, that's her. When you receive a soft clean blanket, that's her. And when literacy and English classes are taught, she's there, learning as best she can. And when you visit our office and are served a cup of tea, that's her.... and just maybe the sugar and milk will be exactly right!