One of my daughters wanted to go see a movie on Saturday. The movie is called “Sound of Freedom.” I hadn’t heard too many things about it, other than I knew it was a true story about Timothy Ballard’s efforts to free enslaved children, particularly those who were sold as sex slaves. I have read a number of Timothy Ballard’s books and knew of his non-profit organization called “Operation Underground Railroad.” So I went with her.

I thought I was prepared for the emotional roller coaster that I went on in viewing this movie, but I wasn’t. I think this is one of those subjects that we are all aware of. We know that the sex trafficking business occurs because on occasion we hear about it. What I didn’t realize is how big of a business it is in the United States. It’s sad that it happens anywhere in the world, but I think when we are removed from the situation, we don’t realize how scary or how big it is.

If you search on the internet for statistics you will find many, not always the same, but none the less staggering and scary. According to the movie, it is a $150 billion dollar industry, and the United States ranks as #1 in this slave trade. Over 50% of all the victims are minors, 30% are women, and a little under 20% are men.

My daughter had the opportunity to serve her mission in Albuquerque, New Mexico, and this is when the realization for me started to occur as to how close to home this is. She had some pretty scary encounters with this industry and at one point in time was told she would bring in somewhere around $50,000 if she were sold. She was protected by the Lord on many occasions and was able to safely finish her mission.

If you haven’t had the opportunity to see this movie, or if you haven’t even heard about it, I would encourage you to go. It’s not a movie for small children. I wouldn’t take anyone under about 15 or 16 years old because it would be very frightening for smaller children. But it is something we need to be more keenly aware of not just as a worldwide problem, but it probably infests even the smallest of communities. We need to be fighting against slavery in any form, and the first step is to get informed.