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9 December, 1999
People don't always think before they speak. A pro-labor activist was in Seattle recently giving a speech about the evils of globalization in general and the World Trade Organization in particular. First he blasted our city as the "place that gave us the five-dollar cup of coffee." For most of the rest of his speech he talked about how horrible it is that large multinational corporations are laying off people by the thousands in developed nations to replace them with machines, or paying them next to nothing in sweatshops in developing nations.
All right, I can accept that those are problems. But the only solution he offered was to demand the corporations use more workers to add value to their products. So, after I stopped laughing, I wanted to ask, "Why do you think the cup of coffee costs $2.89?" Anyone who has actually watched what happens at a latte cart or in a coffee shop that serves lattes knows that those little cups of ultra-caffeine are very labor intensive. And if you do a little research about coffee roasting, you'll learn that it requires a lot of time and several skilled workers.
You want cheap coffee? Then put badly under-roasted, poor-quality, old and stale coffee grounds (which is all you find in the cans) into a coffee maker and let the machine do the work. You want people to be employed adding value to something? Then you have to be willing to pay extra.
While these visitors were in our city, a small number of violent anarchists and a slightly larger number of local hooligans used the demonstrations and marches as an excuse to damage property, vandalize buildings, and steal from downtown merchants. The police over-reacted. More activists came out to protest the police reaction, and things just kept getting weirder. Our Chief of Police has offered his resignation. And the president of the officer's guild issued a statement saying that the chief was responsible for what went wrong. But the statement also said that the officers on the street were forced to "take matters into their own hands" on the second day of the international conference.
Wait a minute. Everything the went wrong, the things that people on all parts of the political spectrum are upset about, began happening on the second day. That's after the officers took matters "into their own hands." Logically, then, the entire police force, beginning with the president of the officer's guild, should resign, then, right?
Some people are calling for our mayor's resignation. Yet no one in their right mind could have predicted this would happen. And now that is has happened, shouldn't we keep leaders who have learned valuable lessons by surviving the unexpected?
It all reminds of something that happened in my family years ago. My younger half-brother announced he was dropping out of school and joining the army, because he was tired of being told what to do.
As you can imagine, he very soon had a rude awakening.
I hope that he learned some valuable lessons. Just as I hope that we all learn from our mistakes and don't spend all of our energy afixing blame.
Note to the readers: I've been horribly behind on e-mail for a while, now. I've received a number of wonderful, thought-provoking messages from several of you, and I haven't been prompt to reply. I'm taking a couple weeks off work for the holidays, and e-mail may get even further behind. I apologize in advance. The essays will continue throughout. Happy Solstice!
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This page is copyright 1999 by Gene Breshears. Photograph is copyright 1998 by Julie Rampke. All Rights Reserved.