A few weeks ago I poorly explained the fact that I like to know secrets. Knowing that I have exclusive access to somewhere really gets my motor going.
One of the points I was trying to make in that post is that I sometimes take that too far. Given the chance, I would go to the Chernobyl reactor just to see what it was like. I will (and, I guess in some cases, have) put myself in harm’s way so that I can “know” more.
In some ways, I think that this has allowed me to have a broader opinion on a lot of topics. I also hope that it has made what I scribble down here a little more interesting.
But there is one topic that almost brings me to a combination of tears, bile, and vomit. It’s human trafficking. However, when presented with information, I am compelled to read it all, to try to understand all parts of the story, and ultimately, to tell it to you all.
I’ve poked around Human Trafficking a little, reading small news reports, and generally being ashamed to be a man with typical male sex drive.
However, I recently bought Slavery, Inc, and have devoted a lot of my (very limited) spare time to reading it. I’m only 60% through it (thanks, Kindle!) but there are so many stories in there that you really wish weren’t real.
One in particular almost reads like bad horror. It is the story of a girl who had escaped the clutches of her captors after who knows how many years of being whored out. She recalls the story of a girl a few years older than her who tried to escape. The other girl was from a foreign country, and knew few words in the language beyond “Mister” and “Yum Yum”.
One day she escaped by hiding in the Madam’s car. As punishement, the remaining girls were locked in their rooms for two days without food.
On the third day they were released and fed a chicken curry. Obviously starving, they wolfed down the curry. When they had all finished, the Madam told them that they had just eaten the runaway, and that they would suffer the same fate should they try to escape.
Now, there’s no way for me to verify this story; even the journalist writing the book notes that this could simply be a mind-game. But it doesn’t change the fact that there is a concerted effort around the world to buy and sell children for sex. Even girls that are “old enough” to make the choice to become prostitutes were probably coerced into that position one way or the other.
However, as much as I wish I didn’t know that this happened, I’m also glad that I do know. I have no idea how I can put a stop to this trade, but at least I am not feigning ignorance anymore.
Anyway, in lighter news, I have basically shirked my work duties after 14 straight days on, and I’ve done a bit of an edit on the next chapter of Arctic Gale.
Please check it out, and let me know how I can improve my “Action” writing.
And now, back to reading.
