Amazing Grace – an unfinished work
December 3rd, 2007 | by gene |Again I quote from this “amazing” film:
“When people speak of great men, they think of men like Napoleon, men of violence. They rarely think of peaceful men. But contrast the reception they will receive when they return home from their battles.
Napoleon will arrive in pomp and in power, as a man who has achieved the summit of earthly ambition, yet his dreams will be haunted by the oppressions of war.
William Wilberforce, however, will return to his family, lay his head upon his pillow and remember that the slave trade is no more.”
This is an amazing movie and I commend it to you. I urge you look around the website. I urge you understand the conditions against which the abolitionists in England fought to end this terrible trade in human lives. And I urge that you remember in this the 200th anniversary of the passage of abolition in England, that the slave trade has not yet ended.
According to the New York Times, ” Upwards of 18,000 foreign nationals are believed to be trafficked into the U.S. each year. According to the State Department, 80 percent of trafficked people are women and children, an overwhelming majority of whom are trafficked for sexual purposes.
Those who think that most of the women in prostitution want to be there are deluded. Surveys consistently show that a majority wants very much to leave. Apologists love to spread the fantasy of the happy hooker. But the world of the prostitute is typically filled with pimps, sadists, psychopaths, drug addicts, violent criminals and disease.”
And if this is so, in this the freest of all lands, what then must it be like for these poor little ones in places where their lives are not so valued? This is a fight that has not ended. Yet must. It MUST. This is one more dirty little secret upon which the light of love must be brought. It is time the entire population of our world lives free. The time is upon us and the time is now. Please keep this issue in mind as we enter the 2008 campaign season. American freedom is not, cannot be, just for Americans. Love demands freedom be equally shared. Please support candidates and parties which make ending this horrific business part of their platform. And insist YOUR local candidates do so. much love, :^) gene
If today brings even one choice your way
choose to be a bringer of the light :^) gene
2 Responses to “Amazing Grace – an unfinished work”
By James on Dec 4, 2007 | Reply
Gene, I stumbled across this post (and your site) completely by accident.
And thank you. I think this is a powerful take on “Amazing Grace.” And I applaud your unwillingness to take the film’s uplifting message without remembering, and reminding us, that the slave trade is not yet history.
In the 18th century, everyone was raised in a society which took slavery and the slave trade for granted. Only a courageous few seem to have been able to see that the trade was not “normal,” and to act on their convictions. In the 21st century, we have no such excuse for failing to see, and act on, what’s right in front of us.
James
By gene on Dec 5, 2007 | Reply
Hello James!
Nice to meet you here, though I’m sorry you stumbled, having done so myself relatively recently I know how long such things can haunt one, lol. You are right, the film’s message, overall, is uplifting, the sad part is that it takes place in the early 1800’s, yet here we are in the early 2000’s and all that has really happened is that slavery has gone underground – or people are just as good, maybe better, at averting their eyes, as they were then too. Economic slavery is as bad as “plantation” slavery ever was. And the same arguments are used now as were then – the slave’s themselves don’t object, they are really better off than they were anyway so we have really improved their lot in life. People of power and greed will now, as then, commit any crime against humanity that serves the purpose of keeping them “haves” and everyone else “havenots”. That this issue is not at the top of the United States, and the United Nation’s, to-do list is shameful. Human trafficking, economic slavery are equally horrific evils. And we dare call ourselves civilized.