I saw this film a few weeks ago that was incredibly intense. In fact, it was so intense that I haven't been able to figure out how to react to it. I have no idea what my first step should be. I feel helpless and overwhelmed. I feel like I want to buy a mansion so that all of my students can come live with me rather than going home to some of their shitty lives. Though I have no personal experience with this stuff, I am aware that sexual abuse is alive and present. I understand that my stresses are insignificant compared to some in my city, and possibly even my neighborhood. I understand that I've had a really easy life.
What I wasn't aware of before the screening of this movie...was the volume of this violence. I thought "human trafficking" was just something that happened overseas in third world countries with no money. I've cried with friends over their stories of sexual abuse as a kid, and they seem fine, so my ignorant mind assumes that's how most cases in America go. Then, I hear on the news once in a while, a story so horrific you think the likes of that couldn't possibly happen more often than once in a while...because how many SICK and twisted people can their actually be in the world?? I'm finding out more and more, that its possible that the bad guys are outnumbering the good.
Judgement is easy when you've had smooth sails yourself. How could a woman be so primitive as to even consider prostitution? Why can't she go get an office job like everyone else? Why do people even try drugs in the first place? Didn't they hear the same "Just Say No" campaigns that I did? How low does your self-respect have to be to agree to become a stripper? ...Well friends, I have been ignorant and blind. Forgive me. Things are not always black and white. Situations are not always that simple. So try these questions instead....
What if I'm 9yrs. old and the only way to get my mommy to spend time with me is if I get high with her? What if someone in my family lined up appointments for men to sleep with me so they could have money? What if my mom is arrested and I move to a foster home with a sexual predator waiting for me? What if my uncle beats me if I don't agree to sex? What if any of these actions lead to a 14yr. old pregnancy? What if I've been raped so many times that even when I'm 18 I don't understand that is NOT a normal way for men to treat me?
Kind of puts things in perspective doesn't it? Maybe it would be a lot harder to pass class, get a diploma and be strong enough to put myself through college? Much less, interview for a respectable job? I worry about my kids. I worry about how some of them are treated at home and they have no advocate, too scared to use their voice. How do I recognize symptoms of that home life? What do I do about it?
I remain overwhelmed at the evil that lives...even here in our own backyard. And God, how do You explain this?
