A worthy cause

Last night my wife and I attended a benefit dinner for an organization called International Justice Mission. IJM is a human rights agency that secures justice for victims of slavery, sexual exploitation and other forms of violent oppression. IJM lawyers, investigators and aftercare professionals work with local officials to ensure immediate victim rescue and aftercare, to prosecute perpetrators and to promote functioning public justice systems.

The issue of pervasive and persistent slavery seems to have been rising in our cultural conscience for the last couple years. Major events such as the movie Amazing Grace and other events have served to remind us that slavery still exists and that people are still oppressed around the world as well as closer to home.

As we sat there, in the elegant setting of the San Francisco Fairmont Hotel grand ballroom, we listened to stories of men, women and children being forced into physical or sexual labor. We also got to hear about the success stories where IJM investigated, conducted raids to release people being held and then doggedly pursued the slave holders through the local legal systems in many different countries.

As I sat there listening to these stories, I couldn't help but be overwhelmed by the atrocity that is human bondage. And the pictures they showed of the kids suffering from unspeakable abuse, these images haunted me.

As I consider the role Famplosion hopes to play in the world, I think we're focused on the other side of that evil equation. What I mean to say is IJM is addressing evil when it's been perpetrated against innocence and helplessness. The evil has been committed and IJM goes in to fix the situation and heal the victims. Famplosion labors further up stream and seeks to grow the love between parents and children by encouraging them to spend more time together. If we can be a stimulus for more love in the world, maybe we can help by preemptively removing space for evil to take root.

I know it may be a small thing, and it certainly is more comfortable to be on the love building side of things compared to the evil reduction side, but it is something.

And here's something else. I encourage anyone reading this to go to www.ijm.org and check them out. If you feel inclined, they need your donations. We're all entering this period of financial uncertainty together. We need to ensure evil is not given room to grow for lack of funds supporting the organizations and efforts that truly matter and are truly effective.