Trafficking essential subject, but truth missed in movie: Taken

I do not understand how men who raise daughters could ever sell women as business.

I watched the “action-packed, adrenaline-fuel ride” movie “Taken” last weekend. It was action-packed for sure – the gunshots and breaking of faces paused only to acquire the next piece of the puzzle...then, repeat.

Perhaps Mr. Neeson needed an outlet for his anger after losing his real-life wife in a terrible accident. That is understandable. However, what is inexcusable is the movie's introduction of trafficking as an issue, then quickly tossing it aside to justify the use of any type of violence and destruction. All sacrificed for one...

At one point, the next-bad-guy-to-die grovelled in an elevator and said he had a daughter, too, but this was business; it was not personal. The problem is: it's always personal to someone when the topic is human trafficking and sexual exploitation of women. All men have a Mother, every woman is a Daughter, Sister, Mother.

What strikes me is the disconnect between raising a little girl and treating other girls (women) as if they are property, objects, inhuman, trash. How could that character go home, kiss his wife and caress his daughter's hair, after selling others to the highest bidder, never thinking twice about the pain and abuse they would suffer that very night and many to come? Never thinking those women go to their deaths – maybe not physically (although that's a good possibility), but to the death of every beautiful part of her soul.

I wish I could give my female perspective to all the men I know. Maybe it would start the uncomfortable, but important conversations rolling. Sex is personal for women. Our deepest desire is to be known and to be found beautiful. Exploitation shatters both of these needs in one stroke. Our deepest parts are explored through intercourse, physically and emotionally. If we are discarded afterward, passed around like something ordinary, or measured against a fantasy woman, we feel worse than ugly. We become wounded beyond repair. The deep, deep fear that we are not good enough for Love is realized. The LIE that we are worthless takes root and the Doubt Never Leaves. The hope of being found truly Beautiful is lost.

I cannot claim to comprehend men and how they are wired. I do understand men are different than women. I know every man is unique. I know there is a vast spectrum of satisfaction. And that there is a grave difference between desire and action, and yet...

A man once told me that rape is about power, not climax or desire. That information helps me get my head around part of the disconnect. Feeling powerless is never enjoyable; it's only natural for the youngest kid to kick the dog when he takes abuse from his older brothers...the totem pole always has a lower rung. It doesn't mean the boy hated the dog, exactly; she was in the way of his frustration and anger. But feeling powerless does not excuse taking power from another or abusing them; those who seek out the vulnerable go even farther down that dark, dark road.

The Myth of Redemptive Violence is that all levels of violence are allowed as long as you pursue what is Good and Right (Order, not Chaos). Although this movie plays on my hope to be worth that kind of run-across-the-world, will-not-be-stopped salvation, the reality is that so many women in this movie were not saved. The protagonist's daughter was the one in a million. And so many girls are caught in the real nightmare.

The only way I live knowing my world contains this Evil is this Truth: that my Jesus holds each one of them in His Loving Hands. He is right now doing a new work to bring about their rescue. He is the only one who is Mighty and Able to Save.

Standing in stark contrast to human ideas of Justice is One who did not consider Equality something to be grasped (although it was already His), but became a slave of Love – One sacrificed for all. Thank you, Jesus!