Work for “beauty”

 
Everyone in the community flocked to it. It is where everyone wants to hang out. People want to have meetings there, take their kids there, and spend time with your neighbor. White people take pictures of the majestic mahogany wood with the hand-etched sun panels. Relatives compliment her intricately carved roofing. People bring her food, gifts, offerings so they can spend time with her. So she can recognize them. Her bills are completely paid and she has no worries. At least on the surface. Maybe.
 

Everyone else in the community has the same design. The wood flooring is bending from humidity, rainfall, and bugs eating away at it. The roof leaks water so your clothes can’t even dry indoors. You have cracks in your walls so privacy is limited. This is probably the house you grew up in. You might even suffer from smoke inhalation because your stove is in an isolated part of the house. You don’t want the stove to be next to your daughter’s bed like yours was growing up. It was hot and made you cough a lot.
 
People don’t want to spend time with you. You have nothing to offer them. Your life is just as average as theirs. How can they feel important by sitting on your porch? Why would they want their kids seen at your house? When the white people come they don’t take pictures of your house because it’s just average. Your house just like the one in front of it, to its left, behind it. You have nothing special.
 
You worry about how your kids will eat. You worry about how you’ll get clean water for them to drink. You worry about how you will get them clothes to wear. You worry about how you will eat so you can stay alive to take care of them. You worry about where to find reliable work. You worry about how your kids will get the medicine they need because they cut their hand on a rusted nail in your house.
 

 

 
But these aren’t your kids now. These are your friends’ kids. These are your kids’ best friends. These are your neighbors’ kids. The ones who are in the same situation as you once were and so desperately want to find a way out.

You point to the nice house your original boss has. Tell them of how your fortunes have changed. You rope them in. And you get a cut because you brought in more "business."
 
They see what happened when you got $26 over and over again by letting your kids leave with the guy who drove up in the nice car with tented windows. Your prosperity is a testament to your kids “willingness to help the family.”
 
And now that you have money you don’t need to worry about the bills. You don’t worry about how your kids will eat. You don’t worry about how you’ll get clean water for them to drink. You don’t worry about how you will get them clothes to wear. You don’t worry about how you will eat so you can stay alive to take care of them. You don’t worry about finding reliable work.
 
You don’t worry about how you’ll get medicine for your kid who cut her hand on a rusted nail. You have a nice house, so you no longer have rusted nails. Just like you no longer have any kids. See you don’t have bills anymore not because you have money; you don’t have bills anymore because your kids never came home.

They, along with their innocence, left that day as quickly and as forcefully as the 30 men will leave them that night. Both never to be seen again.
 
Your kids were never brought home. Now, maybe, hopefully, you might hope that your kids come back.
 
What work would you take for that?