As I was sitting at the bar playing a Thai board game he approached me in a polite fashion. He had shoe polish in his hand and asked if I would like my sandals waxed. Really? I think it was his way to break the ice. I with a confused tone said no and just went about my board game with one of the girls. He was just a regular looking Thai guy with a regular looking outfit on. He proceeded to sit next to me and tried to hold a conversation although his English was pretty broken. It was getting to be that time for us to leave the bars but he asked if I wanted to a play a round of the board game. I hesitatingly said yes because he sort of creped me out but I figured he was harmless and I had nothing to lose.
We starting playing the game and he was being a little too flirty. As I rolled the dice every once in a while he would touch my arm or say boarder line inappropriate things to me. It was getting to be past the line of my comfort level. The time came for us to leave so I was just going to pay for my coke and go on my way. As I tried to hand a tip to one of the girls he grabbed my hand. Was he trying to steal the tip or trying to make a move on me? I almost wished it was the tip.
He grabbed my hand and gave me one of the most haunting seductive looks I have ever received in my whole life. Then he took his hand and put it around my waist and then up my thigh. I grabbed both of his hands and pushed them away from me. That was not ok so I yelled no in a very stern voice. He didn’t think what he was doing was wrong so he once again he ran his hand up my thigh even worse this time. I was humiliated. I stood up pushed his hands away from me and backed away as fast as I could. All the girls around me were sort of confused. I walked away from there as fast as I have ever walked before. I looked back once I was a safe distance away and he just sat there with a smile on his face. Has our world become numb to the fact that prostitution is not ok, that women are real people and it’s not ok to treat them like that?
I don’t know if that man thought I was a prostitute or just trying to put the moves on me but I still felt completely used. I wanted to share this story to bring light to a very dark issue in our world. Prostitution is a huge problem and most of the time we just live our lives and don’t think twice about. But prostitution haunts people in all walks of life. Old and young, rich and poor, single and sometime even married. That day in the bar was a real eye opener. These women wake up every day and have to go through that humiliation. They have to trick their minds into thinking that it’s ok. That night I was looking around wondering who would be my savior. What if things went too far who would be there to protect me? The answer to that question in nobody, nobody would have cared or thought twice about the issue. Where are we Christians? Why don’t we do more about this issue and stand up for these women? Why don’t we bring light so they know truth?
And the funny thing is I feel sorry for the men. They are just as much in the dark as the women. Pray that the Lord would change their hearts and fill that void missing in their lives. Pray that these women find jobs so they don’t have to prostitute their bodies. Also pray that the people working to help girls get out of prostitution would be protected.
