Jobs

I was riding around the other day really feeling sorry for myself because I had been in the car all day, it was hot, the fumes were making light headed, and I hadn't had lunch. Then I smelled this horrible smell. Outside my window was this raw chicken that looked like it had been out all day in the heat and now flies swarmed it. On the same table as the chicken rested a woman's arm and on her arm rested her head, face down. She was clearly exhausted from the heat and probably discouraged that her product hadn't sold. Just past this woman on the opposite side of the road we passed some women covered head to foot in black soot. They were selling charcoal and sat right on their stockpile staring at the ground. Past these were men scooping a massive pile of trash that had collected in the street, like it so often does in Haiti. After they scoop one pile they jump in the back with all the trash and sit right on top until the next pile. Then on the same street a little further down a team of students was cleaning rubble, entire buildings worth of rubble. They were moving the debris using only shovels and wheelbarrows. Ive been told they make roughly five dollars a day. This is all on one street in Port-au-Prince.

Needless to say my day started looking much better once I became more aware of my surroundings. I hope I will remember these people the next time I go to a job I don't really care for, or the next time I'm tempted to complain.