A while ago I visited a city that I for so long wanted to see. I’ve always been interested in beautiful buildings and I love cities that almost float on water and what could be better to see than the city of Amsterdam… Yeah, right.
If you look to the romantic side of it, which I almost always do with everything, then Amsterdam is THE CITY. The place where I could really fall in love… Wherever you look, everything is so pretty, sweet and romantic… But yet, I never believed less in love as I was surrounded by the big hands of Amsterdam.
Silly? Maybe. But that’s the truth.
My “mistake” was to talk to people, the ones who live in Amsterdam and I felt that everything I stand for in life is so far away from what many people in Amsterdam stand for.
Having different opinions about things shouldn’t be a problem and I always try to find something I share with other people, but the issue of prostitution is not something that I can change my mind about.
I strongly believe and know that the girls who sell their bodies on the streets and brothels in Amsterdam and everywhere else in the world are trafficked. There is not a doubt in my mind about that. But the thing is that many of those who buy sex choose to remain blind. They choose to ignore the fact that they are part of a cynical and sad business.
Most of them know everything that I know; I’m not Einstein to know all of this. They know, but they just don’t care.
I asked a guy I met if he ever thought about the fact that the girl he’s having sex with must be trafficked… He told me he used to buy sex, doesn’t anymore but his friends do it sometimes. Then he told me “now, when you are telling me that, I think about it, but not then and there. At that time; I was just thinking I wanted to have sex. Just as easy as that!”
Another thing he told me was that not only foreign girls sell sex, there are many Dutch girls as well… Yeah, right. That was my thought. Show me one and I’ll believe you. Then he laughed…
So, opinions like this are quite normal in Amsterdam. I’m sure there are a lot of people who share my opinions even in Amsterdam. I believe there are many of them actually. But I’m still sad; I somehow managed to almost stop believing in something as beautiful as love in such a romantic and beautiful city…
I am sad about the fact that there are many girls in Amsterdam who don’t have a choice of leaving the city the way I could. I am sad and angry that in 2010, slavery is still such a big problem in the world. But I am happy about the fact that many, many more and me are brave enough to want to do something about it… Together we can do a lot.
p.s. I said “I have almost stopped believing in love”.