My Couture: The Silk Road

By Allan Angel

March 28, 2022

My cousin asked me how I could not be bitter. How comic books was my entire life and never once given a chance. So I told her about the silk road. How it bridged the gap between nations and cultures. How people were able to trade each other’s resources and spices giving people the luxury of the richness this world has to offer.

The silk road is much like the system of trade in modern times. The road being the channels governed by unscrupulous corporations trying and succeeding in controlling every facet that free trade sought to uphold – reaping the benefits of one’s work. An incentive that made Americans think that through hard work, dreams will come true.

Along this road companies found cheaper ways to produce things and in the name of efficiency basically gave its own people the middle finger. They outsourced the drawings to places like the middle east, poorer countries willing to work a half penny on the dollar.

Should I be bitter?

The result being that money got spilled into fewer hands with the majority living in poverty. It’s become the norm for 12 people to live in a room. Just look at the streets in East San Jose with no place to park.

Corporations were so concentrated in keeping that “silk road” so exclusive that it marred their peripheral vision. At which point, I went for their memorabilia. I can sell one item from my collection and retire and I’d still have a many more in the pipeline because of that exclusivity. My question is should I be bitter?

Comments

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