Surrounded in a sea of chaos, noise, and neon lights, with passersby drifting through the street like mindless ghosts frequenting the night life, I stood still and quiet with a sign that said:
I will listen.
In a place where women are treated like objects to satisfy lust and drinks are consumed at a desperate attempt to feel alive.
How true our message rang out, to be a voice for the voiceless, to be an ear to listen, not a mouth adding to the chaotic noise.
Why are we doing this? So many people asked.
Because there are people who don’t feel loved or heard. We want to be the one to listen, to show them they matter, and someone is there who will see them and hear them. We, as the hands and feet of Jesus Christ.
I will listen.
How true I saw this perpetuated as I watched a woman scream and try to run away from her boyfriend who was beating her. She screamed at him to leave her alone and he grabbed her and bit her ear violently. She escaped his grasp and he followed her. And no one stopped to help. No one seemed to hear her plea for help or step in to stop the violence. Everyone passed by like they were invisible. With righteous anger in my eyes, I watched and prayed, after my team told me that for safety reasons (3 girls) we shouldn’t get involved physically. It hit close to home, for I began to wonder if I would have ended up there if I was still in my past relationship… It’s for her and the countless other women who undergo domestic violence every day around the world that I stood there.
I will listen.
It’s for the women that stand in beautiful dresses, hair styled, and make-up and a painted on smile that avoid making eye contact. When I do look into their eyes that dart like ping pong balls at the men walking by, I see a dead soul, painfully numbed as a coping mechanism from the horrors of being a victim of Western sex-trafficking.
I will listen.
It’s for the mothers who sell their bodies every night to strangers in order to make money so they can attempt to give their children a blessed life.
I will listen.
It’s for the working man who is divorced and experienced multiple deaths of loved ones this year.
I will listen.
It’s for the middle eastern man who is a chef in Germany and who’s child lives far from him, which breaks his heart, though he doesn’t say it outwardly, only through his eyes.
I will listen.
It’s for the young man who serves his country in the Army who has seen such tragedy and horrific things of war he doesn’t want to speak of or even remember.
I will listen.
It’s for those searching for life through other forms of spirituality, and were attracted to our “good vibes,” which is Jesus in us.
I will listen.
It’s for the man who is touched by our concept, that we are standing for what we believe in and loving others because God first loved us.
I will listen.
It’s for the married couple who desire to have a sweet child and welcome prayer. So touched by Jesus and the blessing they received, they felt compelled to buy us beautiful flower leis.
I will listen.
It’s even for those who walked past us with sneers and gave crude remarks. For those who wrote us off as crazy or wasting our time. For it is written: But I say, bless those who curse you. Pray for those who persecute you! -Matthew 5:44
I will listen.
