Shoot With The Heart
Factories around the world are something I struggle with. At what point does a passion for creating or inventing become something larger than that single idea? When a craft becomes industry is it still a craft? When a food is made by machine rather than by hand, can it still be a work of love? Factories find the very old, but mainly you see the young and strong - the most resilient of our species.
What are the pressures that find this person working in such an environment? Do they resent their work or do they find a comfort in predictability and maybe a different kind of passion for doing something well? Does their mind wander to the future the same way it does for the rest of us? Maybe its that very future that keeps them coming back for more?
One thing is for sure….they are often better people for it. People to admire. People with pride for the existence they have created for themselves. I have met children working in these difficult situations that are proud that their dollar or two a day job is 5 or 10 times what their father makes farming. Often you hear workers talking about being part of a larger family. They are not here alone, but share air with people they trust and can grow with. Enviable words that come from the heart. There exists a type of happiness that is difficult to reconcile for a Western mind. These are difficult working conditions, often in squalor or disarray. Thankless work for little money as it appears to our own fortunate sensibilities. Outsiders want to come to the rescue for the sake of fairness and support. Those ideals and values when placed beside these people and their work are often incongruent with the reality of the situation.
I have found in my travels and interest in meeting these people, that they regularly have more to celebrate than many of the rest of us and rejoice in what they have every day. Their fulfillment in life can be beyond that of the less common man. Casting away judgements, as needs to be the case for all successful storytellers, continues to be a challenge worth pursuing.