Change of Perspective

1087 Words3 Pages

Human beings can always rely on one constant in the shifting and often dangerous world around them: the consistency of change. Over thousands of years our race has evolved, shifting from uneducated hunters and gathers into basic city dwellers and finally, in the last couple of centuries, into the first “modern” humans. This final step has been by far the most challenging as people were forced to persevere through the most challenging of circumstances as Europe and America underwent their Industrial Revolutions. During this time period the population of cities exponentially increased, and more and more workers poured into these urban centers in search of a better life. Trade increased, as did the efficiency and technology of industry as a whole. Yet despite this overall advance of society, this time period was one full of both hardship and suffering for many of the poor as the first of these major cities were corrupted with gluttony and hunger. Disease also became a major concern, as the vast increase in population brought to light the lack of housing and sanitation needed to support the amount of people that were now living inside of the city limits. Even with the constant struggle that came with living in such a dense urban center, the sense of pride that gave people the endurance to continue is perfectly illustrated in Carl Sandburg’s “Chicago.” That sense of community despite the negative influences of the world around them can also be seen in modern times with the shipbreakers in India, who live in similar circumstances as the factory workers in nineteenth and twentieth century America. As the same issues of health and safety are called into question, we must ask ourselves a simple question: do we have the right to step in and... ... middle of paper ... ...workers of the shipyard from harm. Others in India say that they simply need to go through the same growing pains that took place in the USA in the 19th and 20th century. In my opinion, the proper course of action to take with this issue is relatively simple: we must try as hard as we can to show India what regulations and laws were successful as America developed as a country. At the very least we could try to get India to impose a minimum wage or something like it, but at the end of the day it is their choice whether or not they decide to take our advice. Like a parent who is forced to sit back and watch their college bound child make the same mistakes they did, we must also honor their individual right to govern themselves and make the proper decisions. Everybody, including governments, makes mistakes, and what is important is what they do to correct their ways.

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