Get over Squirm Factor

Re: "Mixed feelings: Latinos hire Latinos," page one, Nov. 30. I lived in Brazil for three years, and in Spain for two years before that, learning to speak Portuguese and Spanish. I hired people in both countries to do housework for me.

I never made a socio-ethnic issue out of it; I just hate housework, and they wanted to do it for money.

I've done my share of pumping gas, waiting tables, carrying suitcases and scrubbing toilets on the job, and if I'm not too good to get my hands dirty neither are they; all honest work is noble.

The beauty of the United States is that no one is stuck on a particular rung of the economic ladder; those cleaning houses can make choices that lead them to higher education and higher incomes. Many of them simply are not motivated enough.

Library cards are free for the taking, so the cost of these unclaimed treasures is no excuse. I have worked alongside Latinos who have been in the U.S. for five years or more who could not even say, "Nice to meet you." That's OK; that's their choice. If they want better employment than busing tables and cleaning houses, though, they have to make different choices about what they do after work. Of course we native speakers don't help them with our condescension on the "basura" issue, treating them as if they were incapable of learning the word "trash" and implying that only native Spanish speakers would ever be handling trash.

One of the first things that struck me about U.S. culture upon returning is how much stuff we own. We, and I include myself here, buy so much junk we don't need, for the same reason iPods are so popular — to distract us from life and fill a certain void: Keep the music playing, keep the new toys coming in, so we don't have to be alone and just be.

In places like Latin America, consumer goods are far more expensive compared to most incomes, and manual labor is far cheaper, so it's quite accessible for a middle-class family to hire a housekeeper. We, on the other hand, buy $900 handbags, $600 rims and other bling-bling which is easier on the conscience because they're just things and not people; but at least when hiring domestic help there are reasons other than vanity and vacuousness involved.

The Squirm Factor is just a cultural thing people need to stop making such a big deal about.

Ted Angell lives in Renton.