Stories of human trafficking have a lot of parents on edge. Predators are out looking for children to snatch away from their families more often than most of us care to believe. But, if it were you who saw something questionable, would you say something? Would you stop it? That’s the ordeal people in an Oregon coffee shop faced during an episode of “What Would You Do?”
This show puts actors in real life situations to see how bystanders around them will respond. In the episode below, a 15-year-old girl who was playing hooky from school was aggressively encouraged to leave with an older man. Fortunately, many people stepped up to stop her.
Meg had her guitar with her, making her an easy target for a man who claimed to have a recording studio. He wanted the unsupervised teen to leave with him and promised to boost her music career. But, a man trying to get a teen girl to get in his car alone without even contacting her parents does not have good intentions.
Sometimes, this show can help restore your faith in humanity. This episode is one of those times. While some more passive people didn’t do much to prevent her from leaving with the potential predator, they were mentally taking notes and going to get the man’s license plate. Many other people regularly stopped the girl from leaving, even physically grabbing her at one point.
Watch the video below and think about how you would respond to a potential human trafficker.
I would have called the police to report this man before intervening. Anyone attempting to take a teen away like that might have a basement filled with captives needing rescue! Thankfully this situation was not real, but it’s important to teach your children how to identify situations like this. You don’t want them to be targeted and you don’t want them to watch in silence as someone else is targeted either.