The is not The Super Bowl halftime show
For many today is just another day in the month of January. It is the second weekend in the New Year of 2014. For some of us we are continuing our path to stick with the New Year’s resolution that we have taken. Each of us has a perception and tries to make resolutions based on this perception. But what is really perception?
It is the way we think about or understand something. Is it because of this definition that we come up with resolutions to create change? Maybe the definition that perception is our ability to understand and notice leads us to make resolution for change? But perhaps the definition that states it is the way we notice or understand something using one of our senses that causes us to want and react. But the question I ask is how do you react?
Sometimes we perceive certain things and choose to distance ourselves or want to create a change right away. At other times people choose to ignore it because it does not directly having an impact on their lives. Let’s stop a minute. I want you to think about the one thing that is most important to you in your life. The one thing that if you lost it it would be close to impossible to go on with your daily life. What was it that you thought about? It is important enough to cause you to take action and change what is happening around you?
In 2011 President Obama declared January as National Slavery and Human Trafficking Month. Most people perceive that slavery was something that existed in the past and is part of history. Are you aware that over 2 million people across the globe are enslaved and not able to leave their oppressors for fear for their life or the lives of their families?
What have you done with your life over the past 3 years? Like me you are a bright person who flly understands that slavery is wrong. We have even created laws in this country to prevent it yet close to 17,000 people are trafficked into the USA each year.
Human Trafficking is not only about children and adults of both sexes who are forced into prostitution. It is about the workers who make the products you purchase, from the Nestle chocolate bar you may be eating to a clothing item you may be wearing. Human Trafficking generates over 30 Billions dollars in profit annually. When the girls who were trapped in the house in Cincinnati for 10 years were released did you feel compassion? Doesn’t everyone deserve to be free from change of bondage?
Another year has just begun. How will you continue with your month of January? The Polaris Project has very good resources and information regarding Human Trafficking laws and ways you can help prevent and stop it from occurring. Isn’t it time we all become part of the solution? I, Ariel Dagan, was born free. I am a Jew. Each week I recite blessings of praise that remind me of the Exodus from Egypt. Each year I celebrate Passover. As Americans we have many opportunities to sing the Star Spangled Banner. Yet do we really internalize the words “O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave”? How can we say that this is the land of the free when in fact ten of thousand of people are living in slavery right in our country? In a very short time millions of Americans will tune in to watch the Super Bowl. According to the Attorney General and this article from Huffington Post Super Bowl Is Single Largest Human Trafficking Incident In U.S.. Perhaps our eyes should take a closer look at what is happening outside the stadium and off the field. Today, January 11th is Human Trafficking Awareness Day. Will you do anything at all after you read and watch the clip? The victims cant help themselves. You would be amazed at the power you have through social media and letting your voice be heard. Please speak out for those who are silenced out of fear for their own lives and the lives of their loved ones.
This short clip was produced by Not For Sale campaign, one of several organizations working non stop to create a world where no person is for sale. We are responsible for modern day slavery. As a Jew my tradition teaches me that God cannot forgive us for sins committed against another person until we have obtained forgiveness from the person we have wronged. We are all guilty through our direct or indirect support of modern day slavery as seen in this 1 minute clip.
