Only You Can Help Prevent Forest Fires

I remember those advertisements with Smoky the Bear teaching me as a kid that only I could help prevent forest fires.  Smoky the Bear was a pretty cool dude, I thought, so of course I'd want to help prevent forest fires.  I've always wondered if I'd care about the environment and such if I hadn't grown up with what I thought to be a terrific personality.  And so I wonder if we need attractive personalities to inspire us to do the right thing, to work hard to stop slavery.  It would be a sad world if that were the case. 

Fortunately, though, when I visited the Polaris Project headquarters the other day they provided me with a number of inspirational stories.  Just a few years ago there was a domestic slave being held in D.C. as a slave to a "high up" in the business and D.C. world.  The domestic slave was tricked into coming to work as a domestic slave because the family told her that they would pay her well, that they would send her kids to school, and all of her family would be well-provided for.  As is often the case, the promises made to her were quickly forgotten and she was not allowed out of the house.

Thank God there was a responsible citizen that lived next-door.  They noticed that there was a person living in the house that they only saw taking out the trash and at no other time.  So they made contact with the Polaris Project through the National Human Trafficking Hotline to report the issue.  Polaris Project then referred the case to the D.C. Task Force and the FBI.  The Task Force and FBI then worked with the neighbor and found out that the domestic slave was eventually allowed to attend church on Sunday, and were able to put a wire on the domestic slave to gain evidence.  The wire was able to pick up enough evidence that the FBI arrested the family owners, though they tried leaving the country with the domestic slave because they had started to notice that something was up, and rescued the slave.  The slave was then put into Polaris Project's transitional housing and is now moving out with a job and her own apartment.

Thinking about this story, I realize a number of things.  First of all, the neighbor was both brave and thoughtful to notice signs of danger and then actually do something about it.  Instead of saying, "Oh, well, it can't be anything serious," they acted on their suspicions and saved a life.  Second, what courage on the part of the domestic slave to be willing to wear a wire and risk her life in the operation.  And what determination to exit that awful life and still have the fortitude to make a life for herself. 

And all of this makes me realize that this domestic slave turned "normal" person and the neighbor are excellent personalities for us to model ourselves after.  They took responsibility to do the right thing.  Neither one of them resolved to let others take action and make everything better.  Both realized that only they could end slavery.  Now as we model ourselves after them, only we can help prevent slavery.  Only you can help prevent forest fires--only you can help end slavery.