Fare Trade

There was much rolling of eyes between Dot and me, when our local church announced a "Fairtrade fortnight". What does that mean, you ask? I'm not sure I quite know what it is myself. Fairtrade (yes, it is a brand) and ethical shopping are the latest fads doing the rounds.

It is all the rage to have the picture of a black person (who is generally quite well and happy looking, but with tatty clothes) with Fairtrade branding emblazoned across. The implicit message: Buy our products. Save the world. Especially this poor black man/woman/child. Pay more than you would to assuage your guilt about having more money than this black person.

Fairtrade is being pushed more as a brand and less as a concept, with everybody and his mate rushing to claim a slice of the pie. There are several aspects to trading fairly, and I know and understand only a few of them. Yet the policy seems to be 'lets charge more for average-ish quality and do a little group hug, snug in the feeling that we've faced up to poverty and done something about it', with the Fairtrade lot laughing all the way to the bank.

It'd be interesting to see a Fairtrade product that's superior in quality and actually priced lower than the "unfair" (for want of a better word) ones. It'd be interesting to see how many of the middlemen and importer profits can be cut, so that I, the consumer, am not the only one contributing to the the better prices for the producers, and to ensure that the prices the producers eventually get are indeed better.

Christchurch College on a foggy Oxford morning

Bus Wisdom

Girl in conversation with a friend, on my bus, this morning: "I measure success not by where people are in life, but by how far they've come from where they started."

I am wont to look at 'successful' people my age, where they are in life and what they do, and feel terrible about where I am and what I do. It's always, "what did I do wrong; what did I not do." What this girl said on the bus this morning grabbed me by the collar and slapped me in the face. It really isn't about where you are, but how about far you've come. And yes, there are some things I would do differently if I could do them again, but the moments have passed.

I hate the frizz in my hair. I hate the fact that I love food so much. I would've liked to be an investment banker or anything that pays me shedloads of money. I regret not fully learning to play the piano. I am short on patience and perseverance. I made choices and decisions, some educated, others completely random, on a wing and a prayer. Given everything that could have and has gone wrong, I am here and happy. Yes, simply happy and content.

Don't worry. I haven't OD'ed on the positivity pills. I can be a very naggy (sic) grumpy old (the big three oh looms on the horizon) woman when I like. The truth remains: I have a lot to be grateful for, and, most importantly, I have come a long way.

If you believe, they put a man on the moon...