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.

Winchester

Well, folks, 75 miles down, a couple thousand to go.  My driver and I, my best friend Thomas, have arrived in Winchester, VA.  It's now 4:30 in the afternoon, we got here around 3:30.  I left this morning from Wesley Theological Seminary in D.C. at 8:30, so it took me approximately 7 hours to ride 75 miles, plus about an hour for lunch.  Pretty good time, I think.  We had a few snafoos along the way.  The battery on the two-way radios that I'm taking with me to communicate with Thomas died early on, so we had to re-strategize.  But we made it just fine.

I am proud to have worn custom Wesley Theological Seminary riding gear.  Lots of people were staring.  And I must admit, I am extremely grateful for their support.  They are paying for $750.00 of bike equipment and other accessories that I dearly need to make this trip as smooth and efficient and worry-free as possible.  I'm not surprised, though.  Wesley is indeed very social justice oriented and have been excited about supporting this trip for a long time.

I chose to come here to Winchester as my first stop because of my favorite historical character: General Thomas Jonathan "Stonewall" Jackson.  Strange that I would consider a general as my favorite historical character because I am a Christian pacifist.  But Jackson's stalwart faith and creativity in the face of chaos and disaster is extremely inspiring to me.  And, honestly, I am also very interested in war, despite my pacifism.  Jackson camped here in Winchester in the winter of 1862 and it was the last time that he saw his wife and newly born daughter before being killed-in-action at the Battle of Chancellorsville.  So being here actually means a lot to me, because it's the last Stonewall Jackson historical sight that I needed to go to.

Yet, my interested in Winchester is strange on another level.  Though Jackson had a stalwart faith, he did fight for the Confederacy.  Now here I am fighting for the slaves.  I can't ignore the irony.  More importantly, though, I can't ignore the fact that while I may have come to Winchester with different intentions than Stonewall Jackson, and I may have learned from the mistakes of history and of historical characters, we in general have not learned from history.  We read about slavery in this country and around the world a couple hundred years ago and thank God that we don't live in a society like that anymore.  Ha!  There are more slaves now than the total amount of slaves ever before 1865.  Our outrage is misplaced.

Let's get our priorities straight, eh?  I went to the Polaris Project headquarters the other day and they told me a couple of heart-wrenching stories.  I'll tell you one now as an example of how to get our priorities straight.

There was a domestic slave being held in New Jersey.  That's right, New Jersey.  A domestic slave is one who is held inside a house as a maid, basically, but a slave; not allowed to leave, not allowed to do anything but what the family who owns the slave tells them to do.  Well this domestic slave eventually was allowed to go to church on Sunday mornings.  After awhile, someone at the church realized that the slave was coming to church week after week looking depressed, wearing the same clothes, and not talking to anyone.  So the congregant asked the slave if they were ok; no response.  Eventually the slave trusted the congregant and started to tell them what was going on, and the congregant called the Human Trafficking Hotline through Polaris Project, posted at the top of this website, and the FBI were able to rescue the slave from their owners.

Take a look around you.  Be aware of your surroundings.  Care for people other than yourself.  See every human being as a human being and treat them with the respect that they deserve, no matter what condition of life they seem to be in.  Let's get our priorities straight.