To those who read my blog,
Today I am going to do something a bit different. I work as a security guard in a business building down town. It is located right behind a strip club which means there are a bunch of prostitutes who also hang around. I am going to post something written by me last night right after an encounter with a prostitute and then I will talk a bit about how it played out in my life today.
Last Night
I work right behind a strip club called The French Maid. As I am right behind a strip club, the area I work in has a lot of prostitutes. Today I came across one as she was doing business with a man. As I approached while on patrol the man left and she remained. I could not help but look at her face. Her sweet innocent face had swelled with fear and looked upon my face. As I had made eye contact I felt compelled to say ‘hello’ and so I did. She asked me where I was going. I told her quite simply that I was doing a perimeter patrol. I walked on. After I passed her and got about ten to fifteen feet ahead of her, she started walking my way and it had occurred to me that she was going after the “John” (“John” refers to men who hire out prostitutes instead of a specific person) she had been talking to earlier.
My heart near stopped. I did not know what to do. I still don’t know what to do. How am I to respond to her question of “Where are you going”? Do I ask her in turn where she is going? “Are you going into the arms of a man who is only going to use your body and then dump you? Are you going to perform some act upon a man that will be the ruin of your soul and his?” Seriously, how does one react to this?
I immediately thought of my four older sisters, and my nieces, and my mom. I thought of how if some guy came up to any of them and offered them a few hundred bucks for a “good time” that I would feel honor bound to kick that guys ass so hard he would not be able to poop for a year! There is no “good time” for either the prostitute or the man “renting” their body.
I got in front of my building and I started praying. I asked God where He was. I asked Him if He truly cared for the prostitute. I asked Him if I did enough in that situation or if I could have done more. Truly, I don’t know what I could have done. Some prostitutes do it because they have no other way of getting money. Both last summer and this summer have been quite tough on me personally. The job market is just slim pickings right now. I know of a few friends who have had little success in the job market this year. If all it was, was money then maybe after saving up a lot of money I could help them out. I am dirt poor though! I am barely making it through on my own! How am I supposed to pay for another human being to get off the streets and away from harmful people?
Besides that, I think there has to be something more behind it than just money. Perhaps this woman has a need for companionship that she does not know how to satisfy. Maybe she has a longing to be with men and this is the only way she thinks can express it. But after so many men have used and abused these women, how am I supposed to show her that I genuinely care for her? And going on from there, do I genuinely care for her?
As a man in the social and economical standing that I find myself in I feel utterly hopeless to help these poor women who are getting hurt time after time! I am useless! The only thing I feel I could do is pray but even that seems a bit fruitless as it just seems like God is not here in these streets. I know God is everywhere, but where is He in the lives of these precious women who I know He loves so dearly? I am at a loss! How can I be of any consequence to any of these women? How can I show love in this situation? What is the proper response for the question, “where are you going”? The only answer I can think of at all is, “to pray for your safety” but I did not give her that answer, did I?
Today
I got up early today (around noon… for a night guard, that’s real early). I did not have work but rather a more important appointment to spend time with some good friends. At some point I went on the bus to see these people and I had my Ipod on. Although the music was playing, all I could think about were the prostitutes and how I could not do anything for them.
This thing, this problem obsessed my mind. I could not shake it. Eventually it drove me to shut off my music and pray again. I cannot remember exactly what I prayed for but I started to get the feeling that maybe there was one thing I could do. I thought about how these women may not have been loved even as children which could of either drove them from their homes at an early age where they needed to fend for themselves and prostitution became a means to an end, or maybe because the men in their lives did not show them love, they sought it out in different ways.
I thought about one of my nieces. Her father is amazing! I love him so much. My sister could not have picked a better man for her life partner than this guy. Part of his charm is that he loves his family so very much and would do anything for them. I don’t really have to worry about him not showing love to my niece, but there are other men in my nieces life. One of those men happen to be me.
I can do nothing that I can see for the ones who walk the street right now. I am not equipped with training to help them, nor would they necessarily be able to even talk to a man after the abuse they have seen. All I can do for them is pray (which is still a lot but is frustrating when you might never see the results).
What I can do is act in the lives of any girl or women I come across. I can treat them like a human being. I can treat them as my equal. I can love them. I can hold open doors for them so they know they are worth something because they are worth something. They are valuable. They are my equal.
I called up my niece and talked to her dad, my brother in law, about what happened to me last night and I told him how much I respected him and think he is doing a great job but that I needed to also do more. Eventually my niece came home (her and my sister went to the store for salad dressing) and I got her on the phone and I told her how I felt about her. How I love her very much and that she is important to me. I want to do my part in keeping women off the street, and it started with making sure my niece knew someone loves her and thinks she has value.
One final thought. One of the people I respect the most is Mother Theresa. I really want to read her autobiography entitled My Life for the Poor. I have read snippets and the one thing I have noticed is that when Mother Theresa looks at a person, she sees Jesus in them. For Mother Theresa, there are no whores. There are only people carrying the Imago Dei. Should we not work our butts off to make sure the Imago Dei, the image of God Himself, not be tarnished? Prostitutes need love as well and also… well, the Johns and pimps do as well. They may be the ones who are the main help in creating the oppression that is prostitution, but they also carry the Imago Dei. We are all humans and as such, we need to love one another as if the other person is a gift from God… because they are!
-Joshua
