I want to write something about the incredible amounts of Facebook
posts I have seen over the past two days about equal marriage.
I want to write something that talks about how I wish we
would stop talking about this.
And then again, I don't want to write anything at all because
it would be giving this topic the acknowledgement it doesn't deserve.
Why in the God's Beautiful Big Green Earth, are we so
obsessed with arguing over a topic that divides so many when it is really about
love?
If two people love each other and are committed to each
other, shouldn't that be the least of my worries?
In a world full of such crippling hate, fear, condemnation,
ill-will, torture and hurt, why are we so vehemently controlled by blasting a
topic that has love at its core?
A friend of mine, with a great concept of the world in my
opinion, John Mowery put it the best I think.
"Just shows people are more motivated by fear than
compassion".
The other night, I was taking a train home to Brussels from
a work trip. I was passing by the north side of town, and all of a sudden I
looked down and see bright red lights in windows lining the street.
And then I saw them. The half-naked girls standing in the
windows lining that particular street, looking just like any other manikin in a
store window.
We zoomed past this area of town, and I was soon back in my
comfortable neighbourhood in the midst of the EU district. But all night and
all day today, I could not get that image out of my head.
The red lights, the gawking men, the dark alleys.
Aren't those girls afraid?
" Who is going to hurt me next?" "When will
they leave me alone?" ...."When can I go home"...
And then scenes from a film I saw last year jump into my
mind (Nefarious: Merchant of Souls- Here is a link to a trailer for the movie..http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HYFXy7ROiho ). I remember hearing a prostitute
from Amsterdam (where prostitution is legal and has probably the most famous
red light district) say during her interview about how she feared for her life
daily while doing "her job".
I remember her talking about how she got tricked into
joining. She got lured by her "boyfriend" to help make some more cash
for the two of them, and eventually , she was hooked on drugs, completely
physically, emotionally and spiritually controlled by him, and being physically
harmed by men every single night of the week.
She was a legal prostitute. Yet, she was told daily if she
left, she would be killed. She
reiterated that MOST (not all, but most) of the legal prostitutes that you see
out and about in European cities, are NOT there by their own choice. That at
some point, they got tricked and lured down into the wrong direction. She
explained that almost none of the women you see in shop windows are there by
themselves. Almost 100 percent of them have a man controlling them in the
background.
How are we not banding together as a society and trying to
triumph this evil? How are we not so stirred and compelled to change our Facebook
pictures to anti-slavery, anti-prostitution logos?
Two weeks ago, the "End-it Movement" (an
anti-slavery, anti- prostitution movement that has recently gained popularity
in the US: http://enditmovement.com/ ) decided to have a "blackout" day for all the people who
are bound by the chains of slavery.
The End It Movement asked their followers to change their
profile picture to simply a black, blank screen for the day to honor those 27
million who are enslaved around the world.
I had about ten friends (including myself) that did this.
Today, I saw probably 75-100 posts, profile picture changes,
and comments in some way shape or form about the equal marriage argument.
I beg you, not as a Christian, but as a human, take a step
back and THINK about what is really important.
More than anything in my life, I want these people who hold
others in physical, and mentally slavery to be prosecuted. I want these women,
these young ladies, these children, TO BE FREE.
How can I argue about love when there is so much brutally
wrong with the world?
Why are we not shouting from the rooftops about the children
that are left alone and hungry at night by drug addicted parents? Or about the
babies who get sold into slavery by their parents? Or about the precious young
girls who fall for the wrong boy and never get to see what real love is?
I am disheartened, disappointed and overall just deeply
saddened by what I have seen by many of MY friends and MY followers on social
media sites.
I pray the love of Jesus moves us to pay attention to bigger
issues next time this type of social hype comes around.
I pray that we as a
human race decide to love the unlovable and choose to take care of the broken,
needy, and "least of these" instead of divulging in addicting gossip
that divides.
