If you watch cop shows you have undoubtedly run across the
stereotypical prostitute. Whether male
or female, they seem like hardened, mouthy, do-anything-for-money people. Okay, it may be true in some cases, because
after all, they are playing a part. The
person playing the part of a hooker today, may be playing the girl or boy next
door tomorrow. It’s pretend, right?
What about in real life?
Take a good look at that child you love.
Can you see them playing the role of a prostitute? I have five grandchildren and I can’t. You look at their faces and all you see is innocence.
I’m writing this to say that most of the real life
prostitutes once had someone looking at them and seeing that same
innocence. Or, in too many cases, they
should have.
I remember the day the picture of a child running away as a
kid with a bandanna filled with their most treasured items tied on the end of a
stick like a miniature hobo. The child
would walk around the block, go to a favorite hiding place, or visit a friend
for a period of time, before deciding running away wasn’t what it was cracked
up to be.
Today it’s different.
Today it’s downright frightening.
Why? Well, because danger is far
more accessible and insidious. A child
running away today can be found far more quickly by someone out to hurt them,
then their loving parents can find them.
Within hours that child can be hundreds of miles from home.
Unfortunately, some children are running away from more
serious problems than being forced to clean their room or going to bed with no
TV. Today, children are trying to run
from trouble and find themselves in deeper trouble.
I won’t even discuss the last group of children who are
taken, not runaways. These stories are
all too horrible to think about.
Today on Katie Couric, it was impossible not to think about any
of those children, when the subject was sex trafficking. It is not just happening to children, but young
men and women, too. But some of those men
and women were children when it started.
There has been particular attention being given to this
right now with the Super Bowl less than a week away. Last week a friend told me she was appalled
about the number of humans that were expected to be sold for sex at the Super
Bowl this year. I confess to my doubt as
I checked the web site she mentioned, and what I found was that it is true,
except that perhaps some of the estimates are inaccurate.
The thing is, if the child you love were one of the smaller
number of people than reported, being sold for sex, would you care how many
people are involved? Would it even
matter if it were only one child if it were your child? Does it matter if it is only one child if it
is another person’s child?
I could write on and on about this, but what difference would
it make? I’m just one person. However, after watching Katie I came to realize that is how we start the fight. One person informing others, they in turn
informing more people, until one person is able to do something to save the
life of one of these people in bondage.
What to look for was explained by experts on the show. You need only watch it to learn.
I ask you to again look at those children you love and force
yourself to see them with empty, hopeless eyes, scared, with no one to turn to,
ready to be turned over to a stranger. Then
I ask you to watch Katie here and learn more on this subject.
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