Because We Are Human.

Last weekend, a man offered to buy me a drink. The first thing he asked me was if I was over 21, and when I answered "Yes", he put his finger underneath my chin and pulled my face close to his. I turned my face away and his lips brushed the side of my cheek.

"You look young," he said, "Not even 18."

"If I don't even look legal, then why are you offering to buy me drinks?" I asked.

I had a conversation awhile back with some friends, about our cultural progression of sexual orientation, in what is acceptable, and appropriate in modern society. While statistically, it covers a rather low rate of the population, it is generally acceptable in modern society to be homosexual, or is becoming more so. But still, a surprising and horrifying amount of people are attracted to all variations of ages and creatures, from children to animals (zoophilia). I read a statistic that 20% of all pornography is child pornography. Yet these forms of sexual orientation are never talked about, or even acknowledged that they exist.

I just recently accepted an internship for the summer with Love146, a non-profit combating child and human trafficking. I read an article about how much extra money we spend on airfare by doing humanitarian fieldwork (short term mission trips), and that the cost alone for one plane ticket could pay for several children's complete educations. And while this is wasteful, unideal, and somewhat counterproductive, we want to feel emotionally connected and involved in the charity we give and do. And this is not so unreasonable.

This summer, I am going to be only a few blocks from Yale campus, which I hope is full of interesting book stores, libraries, venues, and coffee shops. But also, I'm glad to be living a normal American existence, where I am not flown across the world, away from my family and friends, and/or putting my education on a temporary halt. Yet still, I will be in an environment where I am connected and dedicated to helping solve these social injustices.

I am not saying this to validate or promote my righteous behavior or character. Rather, it is a sigh of relief that when I spend copious amounts of time and money consumed by superficial social networking, coffee, concerts, and clubs, I can take some form of a step towards finding a purpose and balance: that place that makes us seethe and bloom and ache, because we have hearts, and because we are human.