This Lent I gave up all but Fair Trade chocolate for Lent. I was reminded of the stories I had heard about chocolate being produced by slave laborers, and I realized I needed to change my (considerable) love of mass-produced chocolate. As much as I love Snickers and Reese's, I wanted to learn to love the people who produced chocolate more, and that love required action, however small my action might be.
My prayers for an end to slave labor in the chocolate industry were answered today when I read that President Barack Obama signed a bill prohibiting the import of any product produced by forced labor. There are some people saying President Obama is already a lame duck president, but indeed he is not. This is one example of him using his tremendous power in his final year of service as the head of the United States, one of the world's most powerful and influential economies, to make a difference in the way the world does business. Slave labor won't be tolerated or encouraged by our dollars anymore--President Obama made sure of it. Today I am immensely proud to be an American. There are so many ways in which politics disappoint, but then there are days when a prophetic person makes a real difference in the lives of millions of people. February 24, 2016 was one of those days. Thank you, President Obama, from the bottom of my heart.
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