Chocolate

As mentioned in a previous post, for lent I have 'sacrificed' chocolate. It has helped me realize a few things: the amount of times a day I think about indulgence and simple pleasures when I should be thinking and dreaming about more valuable things. About how carelessly I make choices that affect and are inflicted on others, how my actions are a driving force for markets and exploitation.

I think about chocolate a lot, which has translated into Jesus a lot and what we are to do and the responsibilities we have. I remember a presentation in my Nutrition in Developing Countries course that highlighted the brutality and shocking reality behind chocolate. This is something I wasn't aware of. Completely oblivious too. Well, low and behold, over the past few weeks I've drawn to look into the reality behind chocolate, which has translated into a reminder that our consumerism choices, the most innocent and ignorant choices we make at the retail store, can be a driving force in third world countries for exploitation and human trafficking.

I hope you find this as shocking as I do. I hope you will join me in making simple choices that will support fair trade and not exploitation and traffiking of the poor. Trafficking means slavery. Child slaves. For my tasty cheap thrill of a 99cent candy bar. We don't have to do grand things or devote our lives to ending this, we can simply make choices that either support or hinder these 'markets'.