Greetings, Steemians! In the same vein of recommending books and articles, I thought I would recommend a few TED talks I just watched and thought were important for other people to see.

#1: Forced/Child Marriage In America

If you think forced and child marriage is something that happens "over there," only in other countries, think again. This woman tells not only of her own experience, but also of the organization she founded to help other women in similar positions. The scariest part? When they get a call from a girl who is under 18 (horrifying fact: it's legal to be married under 18 IN EVERY STATE), they have no legal recourse, and shelters will generally not take in the girl. Why? Because under 18, the girl will be classified as a runaway, and the cops will take her right back to her parents who forced her to marry the adult man if found, and she can't file for divorce until she's 18, either, unless her parents file for her.

#2: Slavery In America (and worldwide, but the focus of the talk is America)

If you thought slavery ended 150 years ago, think again. There are more slaves in the world today than at any point in time prior. And not just sex slaves - many are manual labor slaves. Yes, in America. An example was a guy who was promised a good job in the US and who was literally sold to a tomato farmer for $500. The National Human Trafficking Hotline is 1.888.373.7888.

#3: On A Brighter Note, A Great Voluntaryist/#ophumanangels Type Story

This talk is from India, where the guy is talking about how in many places, there are really gross places in the street that are filled with garbage and urine; how the culture is people take care of their private places but not the public ones ("the tragedy of the commons"), and the power of fixing it with and for your community over complaining about it and thinking it's not your problem. He shares lots of examples of places where they cleaned up and painted and such, and the projects STAYED fixed up. It's very #ophumanangels / #litterwalk / #anarchy , and I love it!

I hope y'all enjoy these talks and learn some stuff and come away ready to make the world a better place. I definitely want to! :)

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