Modern Day Slavery

I can't figure out why the pictures are not loading, even I can't seem them now anymore; maddeningly frustrating! Simply imagine fun photos of the Big Apple (its like the game I play with toddlers, use your imagination).

On a wholly unrelated subject, I just finished reading this gripping book, "A Crime so Monstrous..." by Benjamin Skinner. It is about modern day slavery and I highly recommend picking this up; but I'll be upfront it is not an easy read, not just because of the horrific stories but because Skinner does get mired down, on occasion, of political explanations for the causes of slavery. If you overlook or skip those paragraphs, the book is very good. It exposes a subject in today's world that is so often overlooked.

The definition of slavery is those people who are forced to work, not of their own free will, for mere sustenance (food, shelter). Skinner tells stories of Haitian children sold into child servitude, Moldovian villages completely wiped out of their young females between the ages of 17 to 35, who are forced into the sex trade, southern Sudanese women and children shackled to slave trains for northern noble families and poor Indian villagers who are locked through the caste system and old family debts to work for large mine and landowners. All of these tales break your heart and in my case, baffle your mind by how this is allowed to happen. In most instances it is complaciant countries and corrupt police officials that make the work so easy. But the key culprit is poverty (and in many cases, war).

I do also wonder about the people who perputate these systems, the pimps, the guys who sell the children, the mean and violent landowner - what is wrong with these people?! How do they justify their actions? How can a person be so cruel and heartless? Is it the culture you are raised in, maybe without religion or a true family structure? Perhaps if all your life you were raised around thieves and rapists, you become one? Or don't think there is anything wrong in being one?

Either way there is no ready solution - the author suggests writing our congress members, yet esentially this topic needs more coverage, people, including myself are unaware of how prevalent slavery is in today's world. If the book had not been featured on NPR, I would never have heard of it - and that is a shame!

Here is a link to the book and a review. http://search.barnesandnoble.com/A-Crime-So-Monstrous/E-Benjamin-Skinner/e/9780743290074/?itm=1

Do please try to read, even a chapter or two.