REFLECTION 7

Dear Elesondra,

If you read this, thank you. Your words and your honest, straight-up delivery strongly impacted everyone sitting in that lecture hall on Wednesday. The My Real Name was the heartbeat of your presentation. I was thrilled to hear that you are working on adapting it to be a curriculum, an action that will bring its healing words to a larger audience. I just want to thank you and briefly recognize your incredible gift and skill for connecting with others and moving them with your words. You gave us the vocabulary to discuss the reality of human trafficking in the US and the motivation to take strides to counter this intimidatingly huge problem. Your talk planted seeds of change in our minds that we will hopefully water, cultivate, and shape into action. I was especially taken aback by two things you said: that you did not consider one person’s suffering to be greater/more important than another’s, and that you had forgiven the people who hurt you a long time ago. Despite appreciating their sentiments, I could not fully understand these statements—I couldn’t help but think that my suffering was ridiculously insignificant in comparison, and I couldn’t help but feel unconditional anger toward your abusers and traffickers. Whether it’s true or not, I kept thinking that there was no way I would have lived through what you experienced, let alone be able to share it with others. I will continue to reflect on your words, and I cannot overstate my admiration for you.