Yes, Virginia, There Is Slavery In The World Today

"What's your ribbon for?" A young woman noticed and asked my about my "upside down" purple ribbon this week.

I told her it was to start conversations about modern slavery.

She was, I think, shocked. Taken aback.

She genuinely did not know there are millions of people in some form of slavery today.

It was affirmation there is a need for Freecember, to continue to raise widespread awareness, but even more importantly, informed action to address modern slavery / human trafficking and to support initiatives of Prevention, Intervention and Restoration.

Over the past few years, I've been learning so much about different forms of slavery, and learning about great organizations like International Justice Mission, Free the Slaves, Not For Sale, Polaris Project and Love 146 working to address slavery, I've become a bit immersed in it.

Like ... everyone knows about this, right?

I've come dangerously close to what the Heath Brothers call "The Curse of Knowledge," in their book Made to Stick, where "we start for forget what it's like not to know what we know."

In my core, I was encouraged about the importance of Freecember.

Here's the note I wrote to the young woman:

Thanks for asking about my ribbon this morning.

Modern slavery is a heavy topic, but there are things we can do to help stop it and great organizations making a huge difference helping people live in freedom.

A few years ago, I had no idea that slavery was a reality today and no clue what to do about it. Now I know some more and hope I can help more people find out not just about the problem, but also how they can be part of the solution.

Peace, Tate