Blind by Choice: Poverty, Sexual Slavery and the West

I heard somewhere that poverty is the lack of choices.
Having to do what you have to do just to survive.
No options.
You work where you can, you eat what you can
And if there isn't, you don't... simple as that.
If there isn't food, you can't eat it
If there isn't work, you can't find it
In a world where you haven't got, it's pretty hard to bring into existence that which isn't available to you.
You're just stuck, and it isn't pleasant.

But, I digress.

You and I, well we have choices.
We might not be millionaires, or billionaires,
We may have a job we don't like,
we may not always get what we want,
We might be stuck with a 2007 macbook not a macbook pro
or a phone that is neither smart nor a touchscreen.
We may have a closet full of clothes and nothing to wear
a fridge full of food and nothing to eat
or stuck in a course that we had to take because it was a requirement

... oh our woes...

but all that pales in compairison to the fact that there are babies out there so thin that they hurt all the time.
There are women and children who are sold as slaves to quench the sexual lusts of men who fear no consequence.
There are people who are told from birth that they are worth nothing
Who drink dirty water because it's all there is.
The curable sick who have no medicine.
The intelligent youth who has no education.
The mother who must watch her child starve to death.

Yet, you know this.
We know this.
We hear it and it makes us sad.
It makes us uncomfortable.
We want to make a change but we don't know how.

So. we. don't.

We have choices.
We have an education. We have resources.
But we are told from so young to use those resources for ourselves.
We are told to live lavishly because we can.
Because we want to.
     While innocent ones are being treated worse that you would hope for your worst enemies.

Yet these girls who are sold even so young as 3 and 4 into sexual slavery are not our worst enemies.

We must not be blind to their needs in favour of our own wants.

We have choices. We must NOT choose to be blind.

Please watch this video of a woman's quest to rescue girls from sexual slavery:
http://www.ted.com/talks/sunitha_krishnan_tedindia.html

Make a change by sponsoring a child or helping an organization. This is the one I support at home: http://www.dalitnetwork.org/

Pray, tell others, give... but do not choose inaction.Freedom must be fought for. Fight for their choices.