Never to Return

A few day ago I wrote about slavery, and I have been thinking about it ever since.  I have a hard time comprehending slavery.  Not slavery in a historical sense, but in the modern sense.  How is it possible that slavery still exists in our modern world.  The idea that even here in the United States people (mostly women but not exclusively) are held against their will and forced to work as domestic help or in the sex trade.  I just don't get it.  But just because I don't understand it, doesn't mean that it isn't true.

One group that is trying to fight slavery is trying to raise money to buy people out of slavery.  This person is for sale, they will buy them and give them their freedom.  This is a controversial approach and has some serious draw backs.  First is the fact that you are rewarding the people in the slave trade for being grossly immoral.  It is like negotiating with terrorists or kidnappers.  They make their money and will keep on doing it.  

A second problem is the law of supply and demand.  Since nothing is being done to halt the demand, if this became a serious movement, it would increase the value of each slave as the demand grows.  The higher price would increase the incentive for people to be involved in the slave trade.  SO there is the chance that if this was done on a large scale, that it could actually make the problem worse.

BUT HERE IS THE REAL PROBLEM WITH THIS APPROACH.  What happens to these girls after they are freed?  Many of these girls were sold into slavery BY THEIR FAMILIES.  And if there is one part of slavery that I find particularly awful, it is this.  I realize that cultures are different and what being a parent means is different in different cultures but still. 

If the girls return home, they will not be welcomed back.  They will be sold again.

So if a person is bought and redeemed out of slavery.  It needs to be done in such a way that they don't go right back in.  Otherwise, we get all of the bad consequences and none of the benefits.

Slavery is an awful thing.  The fact that slavery still manages to exist in America is unfathomable.  But we can all put ourselves into slavery.  We can bind ourselves to the things that make us less free.  But we have an option that these girls do not.  For us, not only is door unlocked, but someone is knocking on it and asking to free us.  We just need to open the door and walk through it.

Slavery is an awful thing.  I don't really know how to fight it.  We can give money to groups that are working against it.  We can lobby our politicians to do more, but I'm sure it is complicated.  I think that not talking the freedom that we have or that we could have for granted, might be a good start.