Overnight rendered null and void, the thirty years of toil, since the start of ,our small enterprise. The inflation and rising costs, making it most unworkable, and garments out of India now they say, costs an arm and a leg .
Simple economics it is, the selling price going up in the market, lack of sales resulting in discounts, profit margins reduced to negligible, dropping the budget for new stocks. Soon there is a gap, that is widening, between the buying and selling.
Small vendors are the first to be cutoff, in this vicious game of survival . To accommodate the increasing raw material and production costs, manufacturing soon becomes unviable and they are slowly edged out of the race. It is one such perilous act, of quoting a few cents more, that now deemed us a non participant in the trade of export business, this year.
With one stroke, making the labour of four decades worthless, a fruitful career lost in an instant, leaving us feeling, fruitless. The connection of thirty years, ties developed, nourished by mutual benefits, now broken with no misgivings, leaving us wondering, are we defined by our profession, is that our only recognition, in a society that judges, only by success ?
Anxious about, what then becomes of us, if our profitable employment comes to an end, are we deemed useless ? Are we no longer contributors, do we become a burden to the economy? Like aimless, untethered kites, do we live, with no path or purpose, to surf the rest of our lives, with no gainful labour ? Saddened by the prospect, of leading a futile life, not beneficial to us or society, we wallow in the misery, of hopeless tomorrows .
Overcome by the fear of turning from indispensable, to dispensable, we retire in total despair. Then comes to mind a verse from the Bible, Psalm 139: 14. For we are created, fearfully and wonderfully, by our Creator, in His very own image. No matter that the world rejects us, sees us as unwanted, we will still remain to Him, precious, a priceless possession, from the womb to the tomb. And I know, if this is the end, He has a new beginning waiting for us and I am poised for the change!
Mary Jacob 