Run For Life

I'm going to take a minute and list a few things we run from in life:

1. dogs
2. responsibilities
3. danger
4. people who are chasing you
5. people you don't want to see
6. LIFE

Wait a minute, how do you run from life? Honestly, I ran from life by preoccupying myself with meaningless things that took my mind off my issues and made me too tired to worry about anyone else. Don't get me wrong, if I could do anything to help, I did. I organized various school projects from food drives to supplies for soldiers overseas. I wanted to instill in my students the importance of reaching beyond their comfort zones to help someone else's needs. Yet, I was so bogged down with financial issues, family issues, job issues, etc. I really didn't get time to truly look at the world around me since I was drowning in my own issues!

At the beginning of 2012, I declared that this year would be different. I rung in the new year creating a vision board to really focus on what I wanted to accomplish in my life, not just this year. One thing I really wanted to do was to become more physically active. Thanks to my sister I registered a few years ago for my first 10K and had done a few other events since then. This year I wanted to focus on a healthier lifestyle and better physical fitness. I also wanted to "savor other people's happiness". I want to reach beyond my comfort zone and bring awareness to issues that stir me to tears. Not the silent kind of tears, but the tears that come from a place so deep that your body quakes with each drop. The kind of issue that clings to you and when a new occurence surfaces, past heard of transgressions come vividly to mind. I didn't realize for me, seeds had been planted in 2009.

After reading this tweeted article about Shaniya Davis back in 2009, I was infuriated and deeply sadden by the fact that the people who are suppose to be protecting their children are the ones placing them in harms way. I couldn't sleep that night and cried for that innocent soul that was killed due to cruel negligence. I still didn't know what I could do. Years later I saw a special hosted by Lisa Ling about human sex trafficking in the United States. This again brought me to tears, but not to action.     

Even Joyce Meyer's Ministries has done segments on women involved in prostitution and sex trafficking rings. Again, as I watched I was reduced to tears but not to action. After reading Essence magazine's exclusive article with Jada P. Smith and reading information on her website about human trafficking, it finally clicked! I knew I found my cause to train and run for in future races. I want to bring awareness to the sex trafficking issues in the United States which are affecting many children and women. Tears do not solve problems, but they soften the ground for that need to be planted in your heart and eventually it takes root! I could think of a thousand reasons why I should run for something else. I've had family members who battlled cancer and lupus. Why not run in their memory for one of those ailments? Why not just run to bring awareness against child abuse in general? All of these cause are excellent ones to bring awareness to and help raise funds for, but human trafficking speaks to me because it involves a population that many of us will never see or realized we've seen. It's hidden right in front of our eyes and we all know the saying "Out of sight (recognition),out of mind", but no need should ever be forgotten. No ills done to any population should be taken lightly.

At first I ran from the issues of life, then I started to run for enjoyment and health, now I want to run for life! For the lives of those women and children who are being lured (or snatched) into a world that suffocates hopes and dreams. It's not enough to just worry about my happiness or the happiness of my family. We are members of an interactive society, your issues affect me as much as mine will affect you.

In the words of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., "Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere." Yes, even when that injustice is happening many miles away or in your own backyard. What stirs your heart?

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