Page - 50 - in Hanadi & Christian - English

5 10 15 20 25 30 35 50 “So, according to your argument, to respect one right we have to reject other rights, like, those kids’ right to study. Aren’t there ways to respect both?” Raul asks. “Believe it or not, the manufacturers and salespeople take advantage of those kids, and people who are out of work, to make those shoes on the cheap and sell them to us at really expensive prices. So, in a way, we are accomplices.” “Raul is right,” Silvia says. “I watched a documentary on TV in which they said that the shoes you buy at your local shop are pos- sibly made of leather from African cows, which is then treated in China and finally made in factories in Pakistan or Korea by children and teenagers…it’s terrible!” “Isn’t this a way of dividing up all the work?” José asks. “You can’t believe everything you see on TV,” says Mohamed. “And even if it were true, my buying or not buying a pair of shoes isn’t going to affect the children in India. What I do here is not so relevant to what is happening there. And shouldn’t my responsibil- ity be more related to how it really affects what is happening here? Anyway, it’s done. What can I do? Ask my parents to give them back?” “That would be a good idea. People should stop buying that brand. That would make an impact on the businessmen who are profiting so much from those sales.” “Elena says. “Hmmm… what Mohamed says is somehow true,” I say, “his responsibility as an individual is not much, but as part of a group I think it could be big.” I keep being surprised by my own reasoning. “It’s like when we lose a match, and none of us have played espe- cially poorly, but each of us did make mistakes, and somehow the sum of our individual mistakes made the group lose. And the same goes for what Elena is saying; Mohamed’s impact as an individual might be small, but if everybody stopped buying those shoes, maybe the company would notice and stop exploiting children.” “Are you sure?” asks” Silvia. ““That’s like saying that if you ig- nore a boy because he said something you didn’t like, he’ll imme- diately understand why you stopped talking to him. But without explaining it to him, he could just think you like another boy.”