What Does a Gas Station Have to do With Human Rights?

-

I stopped for gas today on my way home from lunch with my good friend Cassie. I snapped this photo with the intent of writing something humorous about how silly/weird/suggestive this name is for a convenience store. But, before I had a chance to upload the photo and jot down my musings for the day, I watched the documentary "Very Young Girls." 

Wow. After viewing this film, I didn't feel very humorous. In fact, it's hard for me to describe all the emotions I felt. I am not naive enough to think this wasn't happening, but hearing these young girls' stories was heartbreaking and inspiring all at the same time. As I sat on my couch in my cozy house, on an afternoon that I was getting paid for not being at work, I thought how lucky I was to have grown up in a nurturing environment with parents who instilled self-confidence in me. I simultaneously was thinking, really, how easy my life has been, and given the opportunities I have had over the years, that somehow I should be leaving a bigger mark on the world. 

As the girls featured in the documentary told their stories of broken homes, poverty, domestic abuse, drugs, and every bad thing you could imagine at age 13 or 14, I reflected on how vulnerable I felt at that age even with the love and support that I had. It is so easy to see how the girls get caught up in the life...searching for love and comfort from men they initially looked at protectors or father figures. But, that is their ploy, to gain the girls' trusts before prostituting them.

The movie also chronicles an amazing organization, Girls Educational & Mentoring Services (GEMS), founded by a woman who is also a survivor of sexual exploitation. This organization recognizes they cannot save every girl, but they share some amazing success stories. The spirits of these young women are phenomenal. To read more about the movie or the organization, you can click the link below.


So, what started as a day where I was feeling a bit mopey because my vacation would be over and tomorrow I would be going back to work ended with gratitude that I have a safe comfortable life here. Even my worse day ever would not compare to the stories of the girls in the movie. 

So, how does Kum & Go relate to human rights? I got to thinking that we have really turned into a convenience store society. We want instant service with little or no interaction. I won't even take advantage of the $0.06/gallon discount at the Hyvee gas station, because I would actually have to go into the store to pay. We don't want to take the time to look someone in the eye or to say hello. When former NY Giants football player Lawrence Taylor was arrested a few months back for statutory rape of a minor, I admit that I kind of felt bad for LT, like he was set up or just didn't know how old the girl was. But, today, I realize he *is* part of this huge problem that seemingly doesn't get the attention it deserves.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Dogs Dogs Dogs

-
Image
A couple of days ago, I went on and on about how much I love chocolate/sweets. One of my other loves is dogs. And, most specifically, I love me a good herding dog. This affection started when I was just a wee one, still in diapers. Here I am with Dusty, one of our first Collies.  Then came Goldie. She still reigns supreme as the #1 Collie when we were growing up. I think I was 6 when she came on the scene as a puppy. She truly was one of the family. She particularly loved going for boat rides with us on our many Sundays at our Grandma's cottage at Lake Delhi. (Lake Delhi...well, that's a story for another day.) Lassie was popular on TV around this time. At one point, my mom stopped letting me watch it because I would cry and cry at every episode. That's remained constant...I have copies of Lassie Come Home and a collection of the best Lassie episodes. Yep, you guessed it. They still make me cry. From the original Lassie Come Home with a young Elizabeth Taylor and R
Read more

Suppose God is Black

-
On my way home from work tonight, there was a story on NPR about a speech Robert F. Kennedy made in South Africa in 1966. A new documentary, RFK in the Land of Apartheid: Ripple of Hope , is set to air on PBS later this month.   Whenever I hear speeches made by the late Senator Kennedy, I marvel not only at his engaging speaking abilities, but am inspired by the thought provoking and forward thinking ideas he espoused during the turbulent times of the 1960s. Kennedy opened his speech at the University of Cape Town with these words: I came here because of my deep interest and affection for a land settled by the Dutch in the mid-17th century, then taken over by the British and at last independent; a land in which the native inhabitants were at first subdued, but relations with whom remain a problem to this day; a land which defined itself on a hostile frontier; a land which has tamed rich natural resources through the energetic application of modern technology; a land which once impor
Read more

Gone Without Saying Good-bye

-
Image
It's been one week since we laid my dad to rest. Dementia finally claimed his worn mind and body. We wrote in his obituary that he died from dementia   because so many people assumed he died of COVID-19. But, as I have been reflecting in the past week on his passing, I do consider him a victim of the virus not because he was afflicted with it, but because we were forced to be separated from him for the past month.  I think he just gave up, thinking we had just abandoned him. When my sister called the nursing home to check on him on April 2nd, they said they were getting ready to call us. They said he had been asking when people were coming to visit, but his brain could no longer comprehend or remember the details of the pandemic. They said after two weeks he stopped asking, and stopped eating, and slept all the time. He lost more than 20 pounds during that time. By April 6th, they had advised calling hospice. He died on the morning of April 9th. We are comforted that on
Read more