Elena Woodside Post 4

There is always a problem, but there is not always a solution. There are so many problems in the world but there are way more people. There are some people who are part of the the problem, and there are some people completely unrelated. There are so many different problems that people can get involved with. When you support a problem then you are part of the problem and you are not part of the solution. It all depends on the situation. I feel that there are some problems that I haven’t done anything to support it or to prevent it. Like whats going on in the Middle East at this moment. There are also some problems that others feel are problems that I may either not understand or not think that they are problems. I may not be part of the solution intentionally. And there are always some times when you cant help be a part of the problem.

In Sold, by Patricia McCormick, the main character Lakshmi is one of the victims of Sex Trafficking in Nepal. She can’t stop working at the Happiness house. Girls being sold into prostitution is a big problem. She cant help that she has been taken here by her new “Uncle” and she cant help stop what has been going on in these countries. She, although not willingly, is part of whats stopping this being resolved. All the girls who have been sold to the Happiness House and who are being forced to stay there, are all preventing it from being solved. It’s unfair how unwillingly, these girls are sold to a brothel, and how they, unknowingly, are making it easier for the Sex Trafficking to continue to flourish. I’m sure that Lakshmi would not wish the kind of pain from the men, Mumtaz, and from having to leave her family, unto anybody else. In this case, she is not part of the solution, and she is, not willingly, part of the problem. “I attempt a first step into the hallway, then another, and watch as the new girl enters my old room with tentative steps, as if she is clenching her feet inside her new shoes like a poor frightened bat clinging to a branch [134].” Lakshmi watches these new girls enter and she cant to anything to stop it. She knows how all these girls feel, and she knows that it is wrong, but she doesn't know how to do anything to prevent other girls from suffering like she has.