I imagine for some, this is old news while for others you'll share in my shock as I learn more and more about modern day slavery in our world, including our nation.
I highly recommend David Batstone's "Not for Sale" as a comprehensive survey of the issues and main players involved. "Sold" by Patricia McCormick is a tragically beautiful novel about the life of one little girl victimized by sex trafficking. If you want an idea of what the entire sick process is like, it's a good picture.
I've learned more about some of the abolitionist organizations out there, including International Justice Mission. Their president, Gary Haugen, has written "Terrify No More" which I'm currently reading. It's been helpful to bring me some perspective on this whole thing.
I was starting to feel depressed. Not only at the enormity of the problem, at the trauma in this world, but in what my part should be. Right now as a wife of a grad student and the mother of 3 little kids, but also in the future, when we're done with the degrees and the kids are in school...what then? I tend to be an all or nothing kind of person. When Khalil walked into my office in 1996 it wasn't enough to read a book on Islam... I had to move to Turkey.
These words by Helen Keller speak to my heart:
"I long to accomplish a great and noble task, but it is my chief duty to accomplish humble tasks as though they were great and noble. The world is moved along, not only by the mighty shoves of its heroes, but also by the aggregate of the tiny pushes of each honest worker."
In "Terrify No More" Haugen introduces us to some of his staff. Sharon is one of the lawyers honored by the President. In an address at the white house she reportedly said, "While there are millions of girls and women victimized every day, our work will always be about the one. The one girl deceived. The one girl kidnapped. The one girl raped. The one girl infested with AIDS. The one girl needing a rescuer. To succumb to the enormity of the problem is to fail the one. And more is required of us."
Later she tells the story of one girl, Elisabeth. People ask her wearily, "so what? You've rescued one. There are millions of others. What's the point?" And she says, "I think Elisabeth understands the point. Elisabeth is the point."
I'm starting to realize that for most of us, it is going to be about the one. The one orphan we sponsor (through World Vision for instance for $35/month), the one school we contribute to in 3rd world areas, the one child we adopt. Rather than avoiding the subject because it seems too hopeless or overwhelmingly massive let's enter in and be about the one.
"All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing." Edmund Burke
3 comments:
Thank you, Beth. Beautiful... just like you are...
On a related note (abolition and all), down here in Richmond--the former capital city of the Confederate States of America--we don't just have Martin Luther King Day. We have Lee-Jackson-King Day. Yes, Robert E. and Stonewall, to be precise. They recently separated Lee-Jackson Day and moved it to this past Friday, but it's still a government holiday, with City Hall being closed and all (or so I've been told by several people).
Thank you for your post! Lately I have been thinking a lot about adopting/being a foster parent. God has used me being a parent to really break my heart for all the children in this world who don't grow up in homes where they are loved,valued,etc. I just want to adopt them all! Jake is starting to think I am crazy. I too can feel overwhelmed. Obviously I can't adopt them all and my present situation doesn't even allow me to act on the one (other than possibly starting to save $ toward a future adoption). I love what you said about the value of the one person we help, though. It encourages me that there is something that I can do to make a difference!
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