Elizabeth Abolitionist

The other day I was talking with a mother in my congregation about skateboarding laws, because I'm considering getting one to ride to work in the morning. It seemed important to make sure that I wouldn't be breaking any laws to do so! It turns out that there aren't any laws about skateboarding down the sidewalks, but that you can't skate in places where it's posted that you can't. I suppose that businesses are concerned about possible skater-patron collisions, but I also suspect that there's also a degree of irrational fear involved. Skaters tend to travel in groups, and any time there are groups of young people, "old" people get scared. (I know 20-somethings who get nervous at the sight of a group of teens hanging out together, to in this case "old" really is very relative!) Irrational or not, it's bad for business to scare off the "old" people--cause the "old" people have money!

But it still bugs me. We're literally surrounded by extraordinary teenagers who are passionate forces of good in the world. Take Elizabeth for example. You may have read her blog, considering that I have it linked in my sidebar. Elizabeth has a lot of good things going for her, but today I'd like to highlight her abolitionist work.
She is deeply involved with Justice for Children International, a charitable organization which stands opposed to human trafficking with a focus on child sex trafficking. Elizabeth recently held a fundraiser here at the church, and because she brought that attention to JFCI, our Board of Benevolance and Social Concerns is considering allocating money to support the group. Elizabeth was even recently featured on the JFCI website!

So next time you feel nervous around a group of teens, ask yourself if any of them are Elizabeth.
Ask yourself if any of them are fighting racism, or homophobia, or child sex trafficking. Ask yourself what it is exactly that you're scared of? Because most likely, you don't have any reason to be scared at all.

Be good to each other,
Rev. Josh
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