I meant to publish this about a month ago, but didn't finish writing it. So I'm re-writing it and posting it now. It spawned off of a few conversations I had about human trafficking. It hit me how unaware of Human Trafficking people seem to be around here. I'm not just talking sex trafficking, which has a bit more awareness, but I'm thinking labor trafficking. Where clothes come from. Where computer parts come from. Where packaging for groceries comes from. Who actually picks the crops. All of it.
About a month ago, the church I was at advertised t-shirts for the series they were doing for $5.00. What crossed my mind in a sarcastic inner voice was something like, "I wonder who made those t-shirts?" There's no way t-shirts that are that cheap weren't made by slaves. Probably children. No way the cotton picked to create the shirts was fair wage. Reality check.
Now, I'm not guiltless. I've got t-shirts I know have got to be slave-made. Target, Wal-Mart - any big store chain like that isn't going to pay extra for shirts made by free workers. They aren't even going to ask. And when I think about it, it tears me up. Thankfully I've never been a person who tries to be, or even knows what's "in" as far as wearing what's hip and updating my look to go with the culture, so I probably won't buy new shirts for 5 or 10 years, at which point I'll try and get free-trade.
I think the unawareness or apathy to human trafficking is a facet of the culture around here in general. I'm not just picking on the church. People just don't ask "where does my stuff come from?" "Who made my clothes?" "Who picked my fruit?" Questions I started thinking about less and less up through the beginning of January. God didn't design me to sit on my butt and not care. Not ask "Why am I enjoying this life of luxury when over 90% of the world (probably more) aren't even close to that. Don't give me the 99% wall street crap. Look around at Africa, Southeast Asia, Eastern Europe and South America. Then tell me your life monetarily and conditionally sucks. To my face. I'm totally convicted by this. I've been thinking about injustice and trafficking a lot more over the last month, since those t-shirts.
Yeah, I have frustrations. Yeah, I wish I made more than $8.25 an hour...but the reality is a lot of people would do almost anything for a wage that crazy high.
Just thinking about trafficking, I have to ask, "What can I do? What can I do here and now to open people's eyes. Labor trafficking. Sex trafficking. Both piss the God of the universe off and honestly I'm glad the post-modern wishy washy God who is just love and not wrath doesn't exist. It's stuff like this that need a God who brings justice. Yeah, we Christians are under grace, but do I really want to be the guy who looks Jesus, who created everything, in the eye on the day of judgment and say, "Yeah, I knew about what people were doing to your precious sons and daughters, and I turned a blind eye. No, I didn't bother to tell anyone because it was uncomfortable and I didn't want to burden them." And all that time I'm shrinking smaller and smaller, probably crying in shame.
I don't want to be that guy.
So the question stands, what more can I do? How can I be a part of the solution? And how can you?
I know I'd love to educate churches and talk about it to the large bodies of believers that are chillin' comfortably in their fancy Mega-Church settings, throwing hundreds of thousands of dollars into their buildings and ministries when they could be supporting the rescue and rehabilitation of sex and labor slaves. But that's just me.
About a month ago, the church I was at advertised t-shirts for the series they were doing for $5.00. What crossed my mind in a sarcastic inner voice was something like, "I wonder who made those t-shirts?" There's no way t-shirts that are that cheap weren't made by slaves. Probably children. No way the cotton picked to create the shirts was fair wage. Reality check.
Now, I'm not guiltless. I've got t-shirts I know have got to be slave-made. Target, Wal-Mart - any big store chain like that isn't going to pay extra for shirts made by free workers. They aren't even going to ask. And when I think about it, it tears me up. Thankfully I've never been a person who tries to be, or even knows what's "in" as far as wearing what's hip and updating my look to go with the culture, so I probably won't buy new shirts for 5 or 10 years, at which point I'll try and get free-trade.
I think the unawareness or apathy to human trafficking is a facet of the culture around here in general. I'm not just picking on the church. People just don't ask "where does my stuff come from?" "Who made my clothes?" "Who picked my fruit?" Questions I started thinking about less and less up through the beginning of January. God didn't design me to sit on my butt and not care. Not ask "Why am I enjoying this life of luxury when over 90% of the world (probably more) aren't even close to that. Don't give me the 99% wall street crap. Look around at Africa, Southeast Asia, Eastern Europe and South America. Then tell me your life monetarily and conditionally sucks. To my face. I'm totally convicted by this. I've been thinking about injustice and trafficking a lot more over the last month, since those t-shirts.
Yeah, I have frustrations. Yeah, I wish I made more than $8.25 an hour...but the reality is a lot of people would do almost anything for a wage that crazy high.
Just thinking about trafficking, I have to ask, "What can I do? What can I do here and now to open people's eyes. Labor trafficking. Sex trafficking. Both piss the God of the universe off and honestly I'm glad the post-modern wishy washy God who is just love and not wrath doesn't exist. It's stuff like this that need a God who brings justice. Yeah, we Christians are under grace, but do I really want to be the guy who looks Jesus, who created everything, in the eye on the day of judgment and say, "Yeah, I knew about what people were doing to your precious sons and daughters, and I turned a blind eye. No, I didn't bother to tell anyone because it was uncomfortable and I didn't want to burden them." And all that time I'm shrinking smaller and smaller, probably crying in shame.
I don't want to be that guy.
So the question stands, what more can I do? How can I be a part of the solution? And how can you?
I know I'd love to educate churches and talk about it to the large bodies of believers that are chillin' comfortably in their fancy Mega-Church settings, throwing hundreds of thousands of dollars into their buildings and ministries when they could be supporting the rescue and rehabilitation of sex and labor slaves. But that's just me.
