Today is my day off, and I decided to watch the movie Amazing Grace, which is about William Wilberforce (apologies if I spelled it incorrectly). If you have not seen this, buy it today. This is a great, inspirational story of how one man took on the British Parlament and overcame.
I think this is a story that has great meaning for today. For many, it is a true story of overcoming great evil singlehandedly, an inspiration to all to be brave enough to fight for what one believes in. When all odds were against him, when he was called a traitor for speaking, he stood on faith alone to fight the evil of slavery.
Where are the Wilberforces of today? Slavery in the British Empire was focused on the production of sugar, unlike in America where we think of cotton. Brits love sugar in their tea. Today, the comparison can be made to choclate in America. Hershery, Mars, and other major chocolate makers grow chocolate in Africa by use of slavery. They claim it isn't, because they pay them LESS THAN A DOLLAR A DAY. How many of you can live on that? They pay them enough to return tomorrow for another 18 hour day of labor, but not enough to live on.
In the movie, a woman tells Wilberforce she and her friends stopped using sugar in their tea. Are we willing to stop buying chocolate? What about the children who work in sweatshops in China? What about the ten year old girls (or younger) who are kidnapped and brought to other countries INCLUDING AMERICA to be used as underage prostitutes? It makes me sick to even write about. So the question is, what are you going to do about it?
Some suggested website include International Justice Mission, Slave Free Chocolate, and many other places. Open your eyes. Search for it. Slavery is around us everyday. The question is, will you stand up like William Wilberforce and fight for basic justice for all humanity, or will you, like many others of his day, allow your own convenience and greed keep others oppressed? Because we cannot say it is not our fault or that it is not our problem. "All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing." -Edmund Burke.
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