About a year ago I started seriously preparing for IJM Freedom Tour 2012.
I’d never heard of International Justice Mission. I sort of knew, in the distant background, about issues of human trafficking. But there was much I didn’t know.
I didn’t know…
- there are places where a man can order a child for sex in the same way he orders dessert from the restaurant menu?
- human trafficking is the world’s second largest criminal enterprise, after drugs.
- an estimated 14,500 to 17,500 foreign nationals are forcibly trafficked into the United States each year.
- as many as half a million teens in the US are forced into prostitution.
- it is common for the legal system and law enforcement to view these children as criminals rather than victims.
I didn’t know this stuff. Maybe you didn’t either, but now you do. Now, what?
We can choose to turn away. We can pretend it’s not our problem. We can wring our hands and complain. Or we can do something. But one thing’s for certain—once you know stuff like this, you can’t un-know.
What can we do? We can adopt Helen Keller’s attitude.
“I am only one, but still I am one. I cannot do everything, but still I can do something; and because I cannot do everything, I will not refuse to do the something that I can do.”
Each of us, you and I, can choose to do what we can, where we are, with what we have.
- I’m riding my handcycle along the Rocky Mountain foothills from the Wyoming to New Mexico borders. I hope to take along a team of about twenty riders. You can join Front Range Freedom Tour 2013, have a bunch of fun, and help us raise awareness and money to combat these horrors.
- Maybe you can’t ride, but you can encourage a friend and offer to help with fundraising and other preparations.
- Sharing is caring. You can subscribe to this blog and spread the word by sharing the story. It’s nice to be liked—we hope you’ll join our Facebook page and encourage others to come along. But the real impact comes when you share useful posts on your timeline and forward the emails. Lots of “shares” increases the likelihood that your friends will see and read the posts.
“Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’
“The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’”
…
“They also will answer, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison, and did not help you?’
“He will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.’” (Matthew 25:37-40, 44-45)
Now, we know.
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Ride on!