Here are two shirts that I care very much about, and below is why they matter so much to me.
A book I'm reading called The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde points out that time brings ruin on beautiful and wonderful things. Oscar Wilde mentions a lot of things that are lost to the world, but somehow leave their legend or imprint. He questions:
"Where had they passed to? Where was the great crocus-colored robe, on which the gods fought against the giants, that had been worked by brown girls for the pleasure of athena? Where, the huge velarium that Nero had stretched across the Colosseum at Rome, that Titan sail of purple on which was represented the starry sky and Apollo during a chariot drawn by white gilt reined steeds? He longed to see the curious table- napkins wrought for the Priest of the Sun, on which were displayed all the dainties and viands that could be wanted for a feast; the mortuary cloth of King Chilperic, with its three hundred golden bees…"(141)
Oscar Wilde's lesson here is that materials dissolve. This makes me think about all of the things surrounding me. The knobs on my dresser, the empty soda can in the trash, and the light bulbs on the ceiling will never be greater than their material's simple purpose. Not every shoe is Cinderella's glass slipper. Simply, it is the people who possess materials that bring intimate objects to life.
When I think of what's happening around the world, I picture many things. I picture Farzana Parveen, three months pregnant on the ground in Pakistan; bricks smashing against her skull for refusing to marry her cousin. They call this an "Honor Killing" because her family believes she brought them shame. I picture militants in Iraq battling to control their only resources of water. I picture the number 887 and can't imagine it as the death toll for Ebola in Abula, Nigeria.
For everything happening in the world, I picture the weight of tears streaming down cheeks, the pulse when a heart drops and cannot believe, cannot comprehend what the ears have heard.
For those who could not control their goals, their next step, their next meal, I reach out to their family, friends, and strangers. When it comes to a decision, instead of slowing down, a yellow light burns green and I reach out to Serengetee. They are a company that makes it possible to reach others when I cannot. The materials of Serengetee will sometime disintegrate out of existence. But their impacts move past the stitchings of their cloth. Every pocket goes towards helping a life. I am a part of something that is larger than myself. A shirt's impact is worn by more than just the person who bought it. Because of Serengetee, I am giving intimate objects life.
The lives I'm helping right now:
