I’m unable to sleep.
It is 4:30 AM and I’ve been lying in bed since 3:45 AM trying to shake the images of a girl being stoned to death for dating a man from another religion.
I spend some time each day Stumbling on the Internet. The habit leads to amazing discoveries. Most of those discoveries I’m enthusiastic to share. Last night it lead to one of the most disturbing videos I’ve ever seen. And I considered NOT talking about it. It was just too graphic and disturbing.
But after my one day of silence to honor victims of senseless violence, it’s time to SHOUT.
The video was captured on a cell phone camera, grainy and pixelated in most parts. It began playing the moment I landed on the page, so my eyes were distracted from the poorly placed warning and the headline about the content was small and obscured. The scene was a crowded street in the Middle East. Men are shouting and the camera is moving wildly. A few seconds into the video, I realized I was watching something barbaric and hit the pause button.
I didn’t ask to be on this page. So, I scrolled through the video using the scrub bar, silencing the chants, trying to dull the visual. Then I thought, “force yourself to watch this. Don’t turn away because you are uncomfortable. You’ve been doing that for 45 years.” So I watched it in full.
I WILL NOT link to the video. The images in this post were captured a few moments ago. They are all I can show without feeling like I am glorifying the crowd’s actions. They are all I can show without sensationalizing a women’s brutal death. Words elude me. And yet I’m compelled to write.
How can I hope for an end to child slavery when entire cultures still treat women this way. It’s all related. It’s all connected. We can’t end one without ending the other. The video was a harsh awakening to just how vast our cultural differences are. How sheltered I am here in the United States. How much I don’t understand. How badly I need to do more than talk.
Stop Child Slavery 
Steve found this video last night, but from the stills you took it appears to be from a different person and a different website. I had my back to him and when I turned around he was shaking his head sadly then he told me what was going on and I got ill. You Tube had it up but has since removed it. It is still on the site that Steve found it thou. I just don’t understand this way of thinking. Thanks for what you are doing here.
Lysa… it was the last thing I saw before heading to bed and impacted me deeply. I’m still trying to figure out how to work real action into my hectic schedule. All this talk is nice, but only action can make a difference. Thank you for your encouragement!
There is only one thing to do- speak up, create some forum for your voice, tell others, show others this video, please.
I do public speaking and music projects to help children. I will add this topic to my speeches, and will try to show videos such as this so people see the raw reality.
Speak for those who cannot. Imagine passing away and looking back at your life and knowing you ignored such pain…SPEAK!
Frances… thank you for your encouragement. SPEAK! That I can do.
This wass a lovely blog post