Read the following post.  Substantively comment on the entry comments of no less than 200 words.

I feel a bit blind-sided as to how much slavery still existed today, 27 million souls. I can only assume that many people were not aware of the mass murders of Jews during World War II. One of my favorite spiritual guys speaks of morality saying “Really accepting ‘what is’ depends on self-awareness, knowing your true existence – Being what is. When we know our essential nature as absolute bliss consciousness, we transcend the man-made notions of right and wrong borne of dualistic awareness, yet we imbibe the inherent virtues of being such as love, compassion, truth, joy, and wisdom. These qualities are not cultural or social values of morality, but inherent expressions of existence itself.” Deepak Chopra. I feel that Slavery today and WWII both have something to do with the morality of a few men that make the decisions to carry out ill intent. The majority of mankind is good at the core and of sound morality.

In life you can look at two sides of a coin. You can choose to focus on the people that bring you down, say that you can’t succeed in life that people are just faking it or going through the motions. You can also choose to see the good in people, to assume the best case scenario, to believe that they are being genuine (unless proved otherwise). The dangers of customary behavior is believing that everyone out there is just being nice to you or smiling at you because it is a custom and not because they really mean it. Truth be told, there are likely people out there that are not 100 percent genuine, but let me ask you this, is it better to assume that everyone is genuine and be a happy fulfilled person, open to new friendships or connections or assume that everyone is just going through the motions?  The later options seem pretty empty.

Customary behavior could be defined as behavior that is accepted by the general standards or behaviors of society. Bohme states that customary behavior and morality cannot comingle, “Morality only arises, only when for good reasons, one deviates from customary behavior…” I do not feel that this is necessarily true. I feel that a huge part of my day and my co-workers days are filled with compassionate care. I feel that one can be moral and continue on with customary behavior. Politeness is customary behavior yet I also feel the same behavior could be heart-felt emotion. I respect you and think highly of you therefore I want to be polite to show you I care about you. Another example that Bohme uses is commitment is deemed to be a customary behavior at a work place for example. Bohme indicates that this is faked because everyone is expected to be committed. This view point is focused on the negative, yes there are likely a few employees that ‘fake’ their commitment to their team, jobs, career; although I think there are many more people in the job force that work where they work because they are vested in what they are doing and because they care. I work for a non-profit agency and the nurses do not work there because they are paid more, they work there because of the mission, because of the team work, and because of what we stand for.

There is a very unsettling feeling to know that the everyday items that my family and I support the slave trade business. I think that most people agree that Slavery should be abolished. The challenge is how do we do anything to affect change? Kevin Bales speech was very informative and made me want to take action, but he didn’t really offer us solutions on how to take on the slave trade owners. I assume that one would start by not purchasing any of the materials on the survey’s website. After the survey I was shocked to learn the survey telling me that I was supporting the enslavement of 77 souls. The Conditions that make it possible for all people to be a part of the social ‘customary practices that sustain the structures of slavery is ignorance of slavery and when and where it happens.  I am not totally aware of what products are made by slaves or products that have materials forged by slaves. This video clip has driven me to dig deeper and conduct my own research to learn more about slavery. I am a mother of three beautiful children, and to see the mothers being reunited with their children who had been released from slavery was so emotional. I cannot imagine the heart wrenching feelings those mothers went through when their children, or any family member for that matter was taken from them; what a helpless situation. I still believe that most people are good and have a high moral fiber. Some situations like this one seem to be in the hands of people with powerful positions and not of the unknowing consumer. The United States government should have some responsibility of knowing where or how our products are coming into our country. If the US citizens are aware of Slavery you can be sure our government is aware, why is our government not doing something about this?