Tonight's premiere of "Ghost Adventures" was not just another episode about capturing spirit voices through a Spirit Box or a PX device. It became so much more than that. It not only opened our eyes that spirits do exist in another way and can live amongst us. Tonight's episode opened our eyes to something many know about, but some feel helpless to stop: Sex and Human Trafficking.
The Place: Portland, Oregon. The Shanghai Tunnels. In the 19th century, the practice of "Shanghai-ing" human beings was in full swing. Unknown victims would go to brothels, bordellos or even underground pubs not realizing that they might be spotted by these pimps and tagged. They would be drugged and then sent into slavery to these sea captains waiting at port.
You think that the practice of Shanghai-ing ended with the close of the 19th, even the 20th century. We are wrong! To this day, this practice continues in the form of Human and Sex Trafficking, known also as Prostitution.
Some stories go like this: A young girl, sometimes before she even turns the age of 13, often feeling like her parents do not understand her. She wants to grow up faster, thinks she knows everything about anything. So, she begins to rebel, not just gradually but sometimes over night. She begins to wear clothing her parents object to. She hangs around with people whom her parents know to be a bad influence on their daughter. Because of these negative peers, they somehow convince her to run away and be free of her parents' rules and regulations. She is convinced, thinking she would have a better life without them telling her what to do, what to wear and whom she can spend time with. So, without a word, their daughter leaves home and never returns.
That same young girl, now a woman on the streets, is soon met by some man who says he can give her everything her own father could never give her: Love and attention. He convinces her further by promising her money and a place to live where she can wear nice clothes. That woman is very much convinced of this man's promises and she falls under his spell. Then, time passes and the promises turn into threats of violence and those threats give way to the ultimate form of hate: Violent Assaults. This man has now become her pimp. He isn't showing her the love he promised her. He is showing her that she is his "property" and that he "owns" her body. And if she does try to run or go to the police or even go home, he would find her and punish her. So she stays.
That young girl, no longer a woman, but property made to walk the streets in all kinds of weather, is now standing at the corner of some Red Light District. She stands there, sometimes in the snow, shivering and begging to go some place warm just to wait for a "date." But she cannot because, from a distance, her pimp is watching her. As she stands there freezing, she looks back on her life before this. When she was someone's little girl. When she was truly loved not by her pimp, but by her parents, who are definitely home waiting for her to return so they could, once again, tell her that they loved her and that they missed her terribly.
A lot of these young girls who are now women of the night came from this very story that I just told. They had parents who loved them, but because of peer pressure and feeling misunderstood, they ran away thinking there was a better life for them out there. But what they got was a living hell. Some managed to escape it and survive. There are a few who tried and lost their lives trying to escape the lifestyle they came into.
It saddens me to know that the practice of Human Trafficking and Child Sex Rings exist in this modern day and age. We are aware that this is "common" practice in some Asian countries, but we never in our right minds ever think it could be occuring here on our very own soil. That is, until tonight's premiere episode of "Ghost Adventures." In the episode, a young woman was arrested for prostitution. They blurred her face out and disguised her voice to protect her identity. Turns out she was a fan of the show. Tragic. Very tragic.
I am grateful for my mom being strict on me as a teenager despite my many rebellious streaks. If it weren't for her, I would not be the person that I am today. So, to those teenaged girls out there who feel like their parents don't love them and they want to run away from it all, your parents do love you. However, they love you enough to protect you from the bad that is out there.
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