Have you ever noticed that sometimes when you are listening to a really, really horrible story, your brain kind of glazes over and you literally can not process the thing you are hearing? It doesn’t seem real. You feel numb. Wanna know a secret? That is your brain turning on a protective mechanism to keep you from being harmed by it. It’s a form of trauma. When you hear a traumatic story, you are traumatized.
It’s good that our brains take care of us in that way. It’s protective. It’s helpful. What isn’t good is that we can stuff so much traumatic material into our minds until we feel so overwhelmed that we really don’t feel much of anything at all.
Today, I felt that little protective mechanism kick in when I saw a link for a news article about 150 ISIS sex slaves that had committed suicide and then even been degraded in their death. I didn’t click the link. The title alone was almost too much for me. I felt myself wanting to surrender to the darkness all around us…okay, Darkness, you win. We can’t take it anymore.
But I want you to remember something now. Something about each of those victims. Something about each person across the entire earth who is experiencing the atrocities of sex slavery. Those people are not just words on a screen. They are not meaningless in the darkness. Those people are just as real as you. They are just as real as your sister and your best friend and that precious baby with the cheeks that you just CAN NOT EVEN. These women and men have all the same molecules that you have. And rather than throw our hands up and choose to pass by the pain, we can do something. You can do something right now.
These necklaces were all made by me from broken or discarded jewelry. They have been made beautiful and new again. A picture of redemption. Your purchase will benefit victims and survivors of sex slavery through my favorite organization, Crisis Aid International. If none of them strike your interest, please share this post with some friends who might enjoy.
And in the spirit of these precious 150 lives that ended today, and in the spirit of keeping the victims as real as we can, I have named each necklace for a girl that has been rescued by the East African arm of the Safe program at Crisis Aid. I ask that as you scroll through, you remember the individuals who are suffering each day. Let us be instruments of peace, hope, and change.
~Anna Joy
Necklaces are $35 each and are strung on 30″ chains.
Sula
Selama
Mekdes
2 Comments
Amazing.
Anna Joy, thank you for your sensitivity and extending God’s love through your creativity.