Ok, so maybe the steelers aren't in the super bowl...but, off the top of my head...that's the one of the first things I think of when I think of the superbowl (I grew up in Pittsburgh, comes with the territory). The super bowl means different things to different people. For some, it's the football game of the year(taken very seriously), to others, it means an all you can eat buffet of chicken wings, pizza, hoagies, and eating til you can't eat no more. For others, it's time to watch the commercials pumped up on steroids, for others it's a sweet time to chill out and they could care less about whether a turnover or a touchdown just happened. (I'll let you surmise which group I fall into)
To thousands of women and girls and pimps...it's prime time to be sold/used/prostituted. I had no idea. Human trafficking comes in lots of different forms, from manual labor, working in cocoa fields, to the sex trade....it's there. What most people don't know...and what I just found out is that for a lot of girls...this is a time when they are shipped in vans/limos/etc to the towns, cities, and area around wherever the superbowl is to be held. Lots of men flocking to one place for a sports event...makes for a pretty good market. The pimps, sadly, are smart at sales and capitalize on this opportunity.
This year it's in Indianapolis...Toledo is near by and so is Detroit...Detroit already has it's own rep going for human trafficking that's not looking so hot. This week I've been thinking alot about what it looks like to truly end human trafficking. To free these girls and women. I know the solution doesn't lie right on the surface. The problem itself is hidden. People don't see it, they think the girls choose this life, they judge and push it out of their mind.
The roots of it run so deeply in our world. The use of women for sex and whatever else is enabled and reinforced left and right through the media that women are there for sex, to satisfy any desire a man may have, even if it means hurting her in the process. Some women reinforce this message by the way they carry themselves and unknowingly disrespect themselves in the way they dress. Women are seen as trophies to be won, or used and then thrown away. Women themselves have bought into this lie.
This underlying current of disrespect and dishonor make it easy for men to dehumanize a woman and use her however he wants, even if she's 13. Maybe the man doesn't know that this girl doesn't feel like she has a choice, or maybe he doesn't realize the reality that she lives in a place of fear...having no place to go, no one to protect her. That doesn't make it ok.
The break down of the family unit, accountability, values and everything else just add fuel to this fire. The fire needs to be put out. I applaud everyone who is doing something to stop it. Whether it's educating the people around you, or distributing 40,000 bars of soap with the human trafficking hotline number written on it to hotels all around the area of Indianapolis...thank you.
I can get overwhelmed by big issues...because it's hard for me to start small. When I first heard about human trafficking, I was pissed off and ready to CHANGE this mess. When I heard about people taking ownership over their cities and towns as nuns and others approached hotels and educated them to the issue and others distributed the soap...my first reaction can be...that's cool, but...it's so small. That's the thing though, it goes back to the whole idea of investment. It's NOT small. ITS HUGE because if we ALL do small things...it turns into one GREAT ENORMOUS UNSTOPPABLE thing. So, what can you do that seems "small"?
Men, I beg you to stand up for your sisters. Be men of courage and of honor. Whatever that looks like, if you don't know...then please learn. Encourage one another to live pure lives and hold the men you come in contact with accountable. As you treat women with respect, others will notice and it will catch on. (you might get harassed for awhile..but you can do it.)
What does it look like for all of us, men and women to stand up against the bully and say we're not going to allow this to happen in our neighborhood, our town, our state, our country, our world any longer? A bully usually wins by pushing around the weakest people on the out skirts of the popular group. They isolate and intimidate. Have you ever seen a movie when a school bully gets taken down by a mob of kids who decide to ban together? It's time we cared enough to protect those who cant protect themselves from the bully. Let's join forces and take it down.
So, without further ado, I know that was heavy stuff. Please go in peace, enjoy whatever the superbowl is to you, but figure out what you can do beyond that. Seize to opportunities to educate and love and pray.
To thousands of women and girls and pimps...it's prime time to be sold/used/prostituted. I had no idea. Human trafficking comes in lots of different forms, from manual labor, working in cocoa fields, to the sex trade....it's there. What most people don't know...and what I just found out is that for a lot of girls...this is a time when they are shipped in vans/limos/etc to the towns, cities, and area around wherever the superbowl is to be held. Lots of men flocking to one place for a sports event...makes for a pretty good market. The pimps, sadly, are smart at sales and capitalize on this opportunity.
This year it's in Indianapolis...Toledo is near by and so is Detroit...Detroit already has it's own rep going for human trafficking that's not looking so hot. This week I've been thinking alot about what it looks like to truly end human trafficking. To free these girls and women. I know the solution doesn't lie right on the surface. The problem itself is hidden. People don't see it, they think the girls choose this life, they judge and push it out of their mind.
The roots of it run so deeply in our world. The use of women for sex and whatever else is enabled and reinforced left and right through the media that women are there for sex, to satisfy any desire a man may have, even if it means hurting her in the process. Some women reinforce this message by the way they carry themselves and unknowingly disrespect themselves in the way they dress. Women are seen as trophies to be won, or used and then thrown away. Women themselves have bought into this lie.
This underlying current of disrespect and dishonor make it easy for men to dehumanize a woman and use her however he wants, even if she's 13. Maybe the man doesn't know that this girl doesn't feel like she has a choice, or maybe he doesn't realize the reality that she lives in a place of fear...having no place to go, no one to protect her. That doesn't make it ok.
The break down of the family unit, accountability, values and everything else just add fuel to this fire. The fire needs to be put out. I applaud everyone who is doing something to stop it. Whether it's educating the people around you, or distributing 40,000 bars of soap with the human trafficking hotline number written on it to hotels all around the area of Indianapolis...thank you.
I can get overwhelmed by big issues...because it's hard for me to start small. When I first heard about human trafficking, I was pissed off and ready to CHANGE this mess. When I heard about people taking ownership over their cities and towns as nuns and others approached hotels and educated them to the issue and others distributed the soap...my first reaction can be...that's cool, but...it's so small. That's the thing though, it goes back to the whole idea of investment. It's NOT small. ITS HUGE because if we ALL do small things...it turns into one GREAT ENORMOUS UNSTOPPABLE thing. So, what can you do that seems "small"?
Men, I beg you to stand up for your sisters. Be men of courage and of honor. Whatever that looks like, if you don't know...then please learn. Encourage one another to live pure lives and hold the men you come in contact with accountable. As you treat women with respect, others will notice and it will catch on. (you might get harassed for awhile..but you can do it.)
What does it look like for all of us, men and women to stand up against the bully and say we're not going to allow this to happen in our neighborhood, our town, our state, our country, our world any longer? A bully usually wins by pushing around the weakest people on the out skirts of the popular group. They isolate and intimidate. Have you ever seen a movie when a school bully gets taken down by a mob of kids who decide to ban together? It's time we cared enough to protect those who cant protect themselves from the bully. Let's join forces and take it down.
So, without further ado, I know that was heavy stuff. Please go in peace, enjoy whatever the superbowl is to you, but figure out what you can do beyond that. Seize to opportunities to educate and love and pray.
No comments:
Post a Comment