The difference is you.

You’re a teacher at a small rural elementary school. You go into the supply closet you share with a neighbor teacher and find him angrily talking to a student.. You look at the student and he seems frightened. You’re taken off guard and, seeing how startled he is, you quickly shut the door. You think about how unusual it is for a teacher to be that angry at a student, but you shake it off. You tell yourself you don’t know what he did to make him angry.

You never say anything.

You’re a youth pastor. One day, a new student comes to the youth group. She seems shy and almost jumpy. She didn’t come with a friend. You wonder how she came to go to the group. Week after week you make extra effort to make her feel comfortable and welcome. Every time you see her face, something in your gut feels off. Slowly she opens up. But maybe she’s exaggerating. Kids exaggerate, right? One day she doesn’t come back.

You never say anything.

You’re a parent sitting in the bleachers. You never miss your 11year old daughter's basketball practice. You love to be there and support her and see what the coach is working on so you and her can practice at home. It’s a small town and you love the camaraderie of the families and the coaches. After a few weeks of practice you have taken notice of a certain player who is often called aside to a private meeting with the coach a few minutes into practice. She then leaves the gym alone and doesn’t return until shortly before the end of practice. This happens periodically at practices, enough for you to say it’s consistent. You find it odd but push it off. You assure yourself it has to have something to do with grades and eligibility, or something along those lines. After all, you know the coach, and he’s a good family man.

You never say anything.

This is your town. You grew up here. It’s a safe place. Kids play with their neighborhood friends and don’t come home for hours. Everyone knows everyone. You notice this certain little girl, about 12, continually riding her bike to your neighbors’ home. Your neighbors are a married couple and they don't have children. You notice the wife isn’t home whenever this little girl comes by and the windows are always covered and they never come outside together. It sits odd with you. But you know your neighbor. He’s a great guy and even plays in the worship band at church. Him and his wife, they’re good people. I’m sure that child is just visiting for fun. Maybe it’s his niece or something.

You never say anything.

What if that wasn’t “nothing” you saw in the supply closet.

What if that teacher was that boy’s trafficker?

What if that student wasn’t exaggerating and her step dad was sexually assaulting her, isolating her from her friends, and telling her that no one would listen to her …

What if that child was being blackmailed by her peers and trafficked, while her parents thought she was at practice….

What if that child was being raped and it was being filmed and distributed as child pornography…

Now, what if instead of not saying anything you SAY SOMETHING. What if you keep reporting what you see until there’s an investigation. What if you don’t take shoulder shrugs and lackluster effort as good enough.

What if, because you SAID SOMETHING, that teacher was fired and charged and now hundreds of kids are safe.

What if you SAID SOMETHING and that student was placed in a safe home and could begin to heal.

What if you SAID SOMETHING and the students who were trafficking their peers were arrested and held accountable for exploiting other kids. .

What if you said something and that person was investigated and charged, and decades of children, including the one whose bike you saw, were rescued and given the right to a life without abuse and exploitation.

The difference is YOU.

Safe children.

Safe homes.

Safe neighborhoods.

Safe schools.

Charged and jailed traffickers.

The difference is you.

See something.

Say something.