16
Jul
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Remember me Posted by Rob Morris

"Compassion is sometimes the fatal capacity for feeling what it is like to live inside somebody else's skin."-Buechner

One of the many hopes my wife and I have for our children is that they will grow up to be compassionate people; and people whose compassion leads to action. My older children have seen first hand, the hurting and oppressed in different cultures throughout the world, as well as here in the U.S. They have learned that there are real human beings behind mind-numbing statistics.  Our hope is that somewhere along the way our kids learn to put themselves in the place of others. To feel. To understand.  To engage.

So I was deeply moved when my oldest daughter just recently posted the following on her blog. It is written from the perspective of the “other.” Specifically, a girl known as 146 and the thousands just like her.


Where has the beauty gone?
The fantastic?
The magic?

 

Buried behind me
in the home I cannot find.

 

Have I been forgotten

In this hole
billowing with
driven stares
catering to evil?


Paying the price,
enslaved submission,
for their temporary satisfaction.

In an effort to survive
I try to believe
that maybe you
remember me.


“When you remember me, it means that you have carried something of who I am with you, that I have left some mark of who I am on who you are. For as long as you remember me, I am never entirely lost.” –Frederick Buechner

I am marked…and remembering.

Rob
President, Love146
Follow me on Twitter HERE

06
Jul
read more of Desirea Rodgers's blog
Soraya sends a story. Posted by Desirea Rodgers

Almost daily we have amazing stories coming into our office. Stories of abolitionists, survivors, partners etc. I received this story last week from a 14 year old abolitionist who is part of a Love146 teen Task Force. I wanted to share it with you. Thank you Soraya for sending us your story!

 

It's amazing how children react when they are told bad things are happening to their peers. The other day I was babysitting, and one of the kids asked me what the 146 on my walls mean. I told her that it's part of a group I'm in that stops bad things from happening to kids her age.

"Why don't you just put all the bad people in jail?"
A lot of them are in jail, but there's more that aren't.

And soon enough I was being interegated by a seven year old, a seven year old who seemed astonished by the fact that she lives a happy life, while others her age are not.

"So the kids my age, don't go out to play? Or have mommies to tell them bedtime stories?"
No, the bad people don't allow for that.

Then a tear started to roll down her face, one single tear, that tear made me realize that no matter what age you could still care. "Thank you" was the only thing she uttured.

It puts me in awe when I see how attatched kids can be to others, that they haven't met. How they are soon enough ready to stop anything that is not keeping the happy world they know. How one child can become so emotionally attatched and not even know the details. That one little girl's sad, innocent eyes gives you more of a reason to want to stop the pain. Then I told her of a place, a wonderful place where the kids get to play and so many nice people can tell them bedtime stories. I was talking about the Round Home. Also how some kids will find their mommie, and crying, but their tears will then be of happiness. And to think in that ten minute conversation already twenty children were sold, but in the time I sleep, the time I dream, nearly 1000 kids are sold. Its all of this that keeps the passion for helping still burning.

04
Jul
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Until ALL are free Posted by Rob Morris

"To be free is to not merely cast off one's chains, but to live in a way that respects and enhances the freedom of others."- Nelson Mandela

Photo by Jennifer Hamilton

Appreciating my freedom today...and remembering those who are still not free.