When I heard about Malala sharing the Nobel Peace Prize with someone else, I knew nothing about the other recipient. But a friend plunked the story of this hero in my vision and I am grateful to be more aware. When Kailash Satyarthi was younger than half my kids he left a career in engineering to rescue enslaved minors. By the time he was the age of my husband he had saved enough children to equal the population of Victoria, Canada.
I gave up eating
chocolate that is harvested by abducted children in West Africa when I watched the Dark Side of Chocolate, in favor of pricier
fair trade bars, and now I may need to pay more for soccer balls too. Bonded children are forced to sew them as well as the lush carpets Persia is famous for and while I am not in a position to change laws or travel to India, I can vote with my pocketbook.
But slavery happens closer to home as well. There is a biting article called You Broke Your Child. Congratulations. by Single Dad Laughing in which he describes the bondage of anger. There has been too much shouting at our house this morning and the invisible ropes are keeping us all apart as successfully as real
ones.
I visited a woman the other day who is lonely. She said that when her kids were little she told them to keep quiet when she was busy or talking. Now that they are grown, they are still mute and the silence surrounds her like a nimbus cloud saturated with tears. Even as we spoke her son walked by without acknowledging either of us. She asked for a third hug
before I left. I made it a good one.
It is unlikely that I will ever be nominated for a world class prize, but I can bring more peace to the place I call home.
