Business is business, and church is church. I think I've heard the same argument for Hockey too =). Anyways, the other day I stepped into the local wholesalers place (for those of you who don't know, the wholesaler is the place where all the tradesmen go to buy their materials, which they then go and install in a contract work assignment. ex- a plumber buys a furnace from a wholesaler, marks up the price, and then installs it in your home - because we're an institution, we also are allowed to use a wholesaler. This also saves us the money of having to go through a tradesmen). In the past, we have gone through different tradesmen to do our work at the school here. However, the bills for these tradesmen sometimes build up, and don't get paid for a long time. As a result, a reputation evolves very quickly amongst the few tradesmen that are in the area, and tradesmen don't want to come to our school. Business is business.
The other side to this is the statement that one tradesmen said to me while I was in the wholesalers place venting my frustration of trying to deal with this situation. He then made a statement that startled me. He said "No one is going to (your First nation). The only company that will deal with any first nation around here is (so and so). No one else will go."
Well hey, that's nice to know. I wish someone would've told me that 6mo. ago, instead of trying to beg every journeyman I could find to come and work here!
Also, why does only one company deal with the 4 or 5 First Nations around here? There obviously is some un-written code that has only one company involved. Is this collusion?
Another question that came to mind was why is our school lumped in with every other First Nation institution around here? I know that our bills get paid better than other First Nations insitutions in the area (and some wholesalers know this too), yet we are all lumped into this one category where we can only deal with one tradesmen outfit in the entire area, solely based on our First Nations designation? Prejudice is Prejudice.
So, which is it, Prejudice or Business? This is what I wrestle with.
Also, as a Christian, what would Jesus do? What should I do? What should we do in our business situations? Where do we as Christians draw the line? If I find out that any of these tradesmen are Believers, should I confront them, or should I just accept that we are "reaping what we have sown"?
Blessings
The other side to this is the statement that one tradesmen said to me while I was in the wholesalers place venting my frustration of trying to deal with this situation. He then made a statement that startled me. He said "No one is going to (your First nation). The only company that will deal with any first nation around here is (so and so). No one else will go."
Well hey, that's nice to know. I wish someone would've told me that 6mo. ago, instead of trying to beg every journeyman I could find to come and work here!
Also, why does only one company deal with the 4 or 5 First Nations around here? There obviously is some un-written code that has only one company involved. Is this collusion?
Another question that came to mind was why is our school lumped in with every other First Nation institution around here? I know that our bills get paid better than other First Nations insitutions in the area (and some wholesalers know this too), yet we are all lumped into this one category where we can only deal with one tradesmen outfit in the entire area, solely based on our First Nations designation? Prejudice is Prejudice.
So, which is it, Prejudice or Business? This is what I wrestle with.
Also, as a Christian, what would Jesus do? What should I do? What should we do in our business situations? Where do we as Christians draw the line? If I find out that any of these tradesmen are Believers, should I confront them, or should I just accept that we are "reaping what we have sown"?
Blessings
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