That's a large amount of anything. Thats approximately how many victims annually are trafficked across international borders worldwide. *
More than half of that number...are children.*
Does that bother you? It turns my stomach and seems unreal.
According to Slaverymap.com 27 million people live in bondage. Did you know slavery still existed? How about the slavery that is happening right here in Massachusetts?
The other night a couple of friends and I attended a meeting with a safe house in the area. The reports from this area are stunning. Yet, just two days before I was at the mall and saw two young girls on the escalator in front of me. Their "behinds" were literally hanging out of their shorts. Their shirts were skin tight. I thought, 'Do these girls know their worth?' Probably not because they are young and invincible. It screamed easy target. The amount of vulnerable people out there is astonishing. I don't just mean inappropriately clothed girls either. Depressed and lonely, hurt and confused.
At the meeting I thought about these girls and the women I see at the mall everyday. Its in the area...pimps are out there and getting away with too much.
What are we teaching (or not teaching) our girls? Where is the line that is drawn between fashion and lack of respect?
I'm appalled at what kids see and hear these days. I can't even have a nice family dinner at the food court without some sort of inappropriately clothed people having some sort of sex on the tvs. "Uh kids, just look directly at your food and you should be ok..." Its horrible. And the parent that has no problem with what their kids wear....would they feel different knowing their child is a target? What kind of example are we setting? Hmm...
I've done some serious thinking about what true fashion means and where it falls in line with respecting yourself and the others around you. It opened my eyes real wide.
*US department of health and human services
Last Halloween, I was trick-or-treating with my two young girls and there were some high school girls and boys in front of us. It was a pleasant night, so I wasn't TOO concerned with the length of the girl's dress directly in front of us. Then the wind caught it. She did not have any undies on at all. The boys saw. My girls saw. I was so shocked. I felt extremely sad for this girl and had to fight the urge to take her to her parents and beg them to tell her she is worth so much more than that.
ReplyDelete