Freedom

The tears almost fell as Dr. D'Souza spoke of the slavery and oppression of the Dalit people in India.

Every time I hear the numbers, it still shocks me. 

27 million slaves. 

13.5 million of them are under the age of 18. 

21.6 million of them are sexually exploited, most of the rest forced into unfair and/or brutal labour. 

27 million hearts, dreams, souls, lives. 

How I take advantage of my freedom. 

How I don't even consider it a gift, but merely an expected right.

But shouldn't it be just an expected right? Shouldn't every human being expect to be free?

As I finished listening to Dr. D'Souza speak about his dream of freedom this morning {Side note: PLEASE take 15 minutes to watch him speak, so inspiring, informative and moving! Watch it here.}, I take a glance at my Twitter timeline. {Yes, we tweet at church. Cuz my church is cool like that.} This is what I found:

Here's what Galatians 5:13 says:

God thing, huh?

It reminds me of one of my favourite quotes, the words of Nelson Mandela:

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

It's as if Nelson Mandela was quoting Galatians 5:13 in his own words...!

We are called to freedom. All of us. And we are not free until we respect, enhance, love and serve.

And so then, none of us are free. Because I'm not respecting the freedom of about 40 people. Yes, I have 40 slaves working for me. You probably have a few too, even if you (like I did) don't know. Check this out to find out how many slaves you have working for you. You might be surprised.

For me, my freedom will come when I can go into any store, not just a fair trade store, and buy chocolate, coffee or a t-shirt that was made under fair wages. Freedom will come when I can live freely knowing that no other girl is being chained to prostitution.

Until that happens, I'll strive everyday for freedom. I'll strive everyday to love, serve, respect and enhance.

Because that's my calling.