The Kind Of Post You Don’t Want To Read

8 posted on April 8, 2010

POSTED IN: Blog Posts, Social Justice

Over the past couple of months I’ve written a few posts like this. They’re the kind of posts you really don’t enjoy reading. The kind of posts that make you squirm and upset you. Posts about orphans, poverty or the sex trade.

We don’t like reading that kind of stuff because it’s just so…wrong. Our mind wants to block it out because something inside of us knows that this is just not how the world is supposed to be.

God didn’t create the world so that people could die because of preventable diseases.

God didn’t plan for orphans to be left to fend for themselves in dangerous world.

God’s design wasn’t for millions to live on less than $1 a day and lack access to the most basic human necessities like clean water.

Our heart tells us this is wrong but our mind simply can’t comprehend the magnitude of the need or how we can ever make it right.

And so we choose to ignore it.

Oh we might not say it quite as blatantly as that. We skim over the post in our feed reader. We watch the latest multi-million dollar blockbuster movie instead of that documentary a friend gave us. We’ll even give a little to an issue just to appease our conscience and make us feel like we’re doing something while choosing not to torment ourselves with the facts about the need we’re giving to.

I know this…because I’m as guilty of this as anyone. I just returned from Africa where my heart was broken by the poverty I saw in the slums. I’m still processing what I saw.

And then I saw this in my feed reader last week:

My friend Anne is traveling to Moldova to blog about one of the most heinous subjects I can think of: sex trafficking. She shared a fact in her first post that my mind just can’t wrap itself around.

At least 20% of Moldovan females will be trafficked at some point in their lifetime.

So many girls live in impoverished rural villages. So, they go to the city looking for work, get lured out of the country at the promise of a job, have their identity and papers stripped from them, and are forced into prostitution – often having to “service” up to 40 men a day.

These are the kinds of posts I would prefer not to read because they can really screw up your day. I would prefer to read something a little more upbeat like who got kicked off of American Idol last night or speculation about the latest episode of LOST. Not this. This isn’t how I want to start my day.

And yet that’s exactly what I’m asking you to do. I’m asking you to follow Anne’s blog while she’s there. Let your heart be broken by the facts and stories she shares. Keep reading even when you feel like you can’t read any more.

Anne’s posts this week are not going to be the kind of posts you want to read.

But they are what we need to read.

Start with this post.

TWEET THIS

This entry was posted on Thursday, April 8th, 2010 at 9:23 am and is filed under Blog Posts, Social Justice. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

10 Comments

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April 8, 2010

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1 Lynn said:

Horrible!! We turn away from the ugly, wicked and the unrighteous. But God holds them!!!

Thanks for posting this blog. I will be praying for them.
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April 8, 2010

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2 bondChristian said:

Yep, I’m following. Sometimes I wonder if I don’t want to read about it because it’s really that depressing or because of the feeling of “not being able to do anything about it” that goes with it.

-Marshall Jones Jr.
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April 8, 2010

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3 Brad Ruggles said:

I hear ya. That can be frustrating knowing what to do. I do know that IJM is a good place to start. Plus I’m working on a special project with IJM that will be a great way for you to partner on this issue. I’ll have more details about it after I go to Seattle end of this month. Stay tuned.
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April 8, 2010

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4 Anne Jackson said:

Thanks so much Brad. Tomorrow’s post is going to be unreal because today was just unreal.
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April 8, 2010

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5 Nicole said:

SO sad. I am just blown away by the enormous suffering in our world. It is easy to become wrapped up in our own selfishness and forget about these issues so I truly appreciate reading your blog and being reminded of how fortunate I am… and how far our world still has to come. I hope, that with more attention to these issues, we can see a decline. Thanks for writing!
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April 8, 2010

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6 shayne said:

De-lurking here to say thank you for posting this.
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April 8, 2010

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7 Kathy Pride said:

Thanks for sharing this. I am way behind in my following, so I may not have resurfaced at Anne’s blog till her trip was over.

We need to get out of the corner of believing one person cannot make a difference; it is a lie and we can’t allow it to feed our inertia. You don’t have to go to Moldova to make a difference, you can start in your own backyard. Start with your Jerusalem, move out then to Judea, Samaria and all the ends of the earth.

I read Red Moon Rising and was haunted by the story Peter Grieg wrote about crossing the German border into the Czech Republic. It is horrible, and I just stand up and cheer for Anne as she takes this on.

You go girl! and thanks Brad for sharing. Kathy, friend of MPT
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April 8, 2010

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8 Josh said:

following as well…

I know so many people who don’t consider human trafficking to be a pressing issue. I happen to think that God disagrees. We must be a part of the action by raising awareness and doing something. I’ve been fortunate to a few things with music to highlight a local org in Phoenix who is fighting human trafficking locally (big problem in AZ)…looking to do more with it.
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April 9, 2010

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9 Amber said:

Thanks for posting. Changing our purchases – doing simple things like that can do so much. We can’t all go across the world but we can get informed. Chainstore reaction, goodguide, and betterworld shopping guides (some have apps for mobile devices) are a good first start to stop purchasing items made in sweatshops.

Thanks to Anne and Brad for raising awareness to of sex-trafficked victims. Looking forward to learning from you guys.
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April 10, 2010

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10 Parke Ladd said:

Thanks for sharing–will be following.