Red Pill or Blue Pill?

So here you are. You’ve learned just enough about human trafficking to know that you don’t want to know anymore, and yet, you see there are charities and organizations out there in the world that are making a difference and yet you still are unsettled. Welcome to the fight. At present there are over 300,000 children currently being trafficked. Last year only 3,000 children were rescued from their traffickers. That’s less than 1% of children were able to be saved from the hands of corruption. So here you are, just enough facts to make your stomach turn, and yet not enough movement within individual communities to cause action. So how do we downshift in today’s culture? How do we move from a place of head knowledge and stats into a place of heart motivated activity?

We are moving from the information age into a rapidly approaching new frontier. A new place in society that takes all that information for granted, and yet still does not understand how to translate the knowledge into action. My guess is that if you’re reading this article, you’ve come to the right place. Not literally our landing page, but a figurative place in your own understanding about the topic of sex trafficking. The figurative crosswalk. If you’re familiar with the movie “The Matrix” you’ll recall there is a point in the story where Keanu Reeves (a hacker) is positioned with the question: “Do you take the red pill, or blue pill?” The red pill represents truth, freedom and liberty from the trappings of the world. The blue pill on the other hand represents ignorant bliss. The ability to continue floating down the river of life, unaware of the knowledge of good and evil. So where does this take you?

Red pill it is...

Where you can no longer be silent, where there is too much information stating the overwhelmingly sad statistics, and you’re ready to see some change in your community. What does that look like? These are the questions at the helm of the human trafficking fight. Where do we look for answers?

The good news is there’s quite a few things you can do to help “end trafficking” now and make your efforts count.

#1 Understand the correlation between the pornography industry and sex trafficking. If you or someone you know is addicted to pornography get help.

#2 Understand the Rashomon effect. There will always be two sides to every story, but then there is the truth. The story behind what really happened and how these pictures of this industry are being framed and retold often over and over. Know where to go for figures.

#3 Vote. Make it your business to understand what the legislature is doing in your state and hometown and make sure that you are voting with the movement of education in the trafficking arena.

#4 Pay attention. So many of us can easily claim distraction and hyper-business in our day to day world, that it can be somewhat daunting to consider how vast the market reach is for this industry. Once you start understanding the definition of trafficking and what it looks like you’ll be more aware. CALL 1-888-373-7888 if you see something say something.

#5 Look into your local Internet Safety Liaison at within your local school district, or police department. If there is not an educational process already in place, look into that. See what you might be able to do to help them recognize there is a need for Human Trafficking Awareness, and education for all civilians, students and of course parents. Is there a public meeting they have once a month you could go to and learn more about what’s being done in your community?