Anti-Human Trafficking and Tim’s Principle for Life — Part One: Stuck at the Crossroads
“I want to share a principle with you. A principle that is applicable to all of us in whatever endeavors we are pursuing; whether we’re at home making ourselves a better father or mother or spouse or business owner, employer, or employee. It’s almost like, a secret principle that I learned. I’m not a master of it, but it’s maybe one of the most important things I’ve ever learned. I’ve learned it through working in the trenches of child sex slavery and trafficking.”
-Tim Ballard, Founder of Operation Underground Railroad.
In Tim Ballard’s recent address, at the 2019 South by Southwest conference, he takes us through three stories from his crucial anti-human trafficking efforts. In these experiences we can learn a principle which has allowed him and many others to do incredibly profound work, helping to liberate exploited children throughout the world. This article walks readers through each story, highlighting his “secret principle” of life and its enhancing role in the lives of those who employ it.
Part One: Stuck at the Crossroads
“I Don’t Belong Here.”
Enter Tim Ballard, a government agent, working on child pornography and trafficking cases near the California/Mexico border. He had been toiling over a case of a wealthy contractor who was suspected to have kidnapped children from Mexico and smuggled them into the United States. The man’s home was located inside a compound in residential San Bernardino, not much different from other suburbs throughout the United States. What made his house interesting was that it contained a self-built film studio where he was producing child pornography, using the children he had taken from Mexico.
Despite several years of experience as a government agent, this was one of the toughest cases Tim had ever worked. A primary lead in the case was a little boy who had been smuggled out of Mexico by the pedophile at age 5. Based on evidence from video footage, Tim believed the boy was enslaved in this house with several other children. On July 4th, Tim and a team of other operatives raided the compound.
The operation rescued 11 children, who were transported from the home to a safe location where Tim recognized the little boy he knew from the evidence tapes. Tim said at SXSW, “I had this moment with him. I saw him and I recognized him! This was the kid from the video, it’s hard to find the kids from the video! Here he was and he ran to me and he grabbed me. He said something that no 5-year-old should ever say. He held me so tight I was crying, hoping no one was seeing this, and he just said, ‘I don’t belong here’.”
Driving Alone
After being on the clock for a hard 48 hours, Tim was finally driving back to his little town in El Centro, California. In those moments alone he got thinking, you know, when you have something on your mind, but you haven’t had time to deal with it? One thought led to another, until his eyes were welling up with tears. The intensity and traumatic nature of his work inundated his mind and heart. The weight of children’s lives, the tremendous darkness, and deep disgust for the sadness he constantly witnessed, crushing down on him till he was drowning in thoughts and emotions. Then, surfacing through his tears he saw, swiftly approaching, the highway exit for Dogwood Road; the path to his home.
Relieved, Tim’s thoughts shifted gears to a different path; Dogwood Road represented an internal conflict, his desire to leave this work and all its sadness and difficulty behind him and do something else with his career. But just before that exit he could see the sign for 4th Street, the road that led to the aftercare center where this little boy was beginning his healing. The road that Tim was scheduled be on right now, because this child was waiting for his visit.
The gnawing tension rose as he inevitably approached the crossroads. Tim said, “I played this game with myself, I said to myself, if I get off on 4th street, I’ll stay in this. If I skip and go to Dogwood that means I’m going home, I’m turning in the badge and I’m going to do something else because I don’t think I can do this anymore. I was thinking Dogwood, I was thinking I’m going home, but right before, this song came on that tells the story of a little kid who was in trouble and someone helped him, and it was driving me crazy like What is the radio doing to me?! Almost not with my own will, I turned off onto 4th street and I went to go see this little kid and I never stopped. I never gave up to this day.”
As Tim rolled down 4th Street, he felt something. Deep and impactful. It coursed through him. It seemed to overtake his body, washing over him with an immersing feeling of optimism. A stark contrast from his feelings moments before. Though his challenges had not gone away, and the work was not changed in and of itself, (in fact he had chosen to do more work, harder work). Though the suffering and evil in the world had not been removed. Tim felt different! He felt love. He felt energy. He felt the kind of feeling you want to have all the time, particularly in difficult times, to help you get through. And he began to discover a principle.
The Secret:
Years later, after Tim left his position as a government agent and created the non-profit Operation Underground Railroad, Tim answered the phone to find an extremely successful man on the other end of the line. Tony Robbins had discovered the work of Tim and O.U.R. to rescue children from human trafficking. “Is this really happening?” Tony asked, “Are there really 6 million children in some form of slavery in the world today?” Tim reluctantly answered with the truth, “Yes… that is the reality.” Subsequently, Tony became very invested in the work of O.U.R. and traveled with Tim to Haiti, on an undercover operation, where he would see the harsh reality for himself.
During the trip Tony was taken to several aftercare facilities as they checked in with various children and partners. Tim observed Tony in this new environment. Tony was thoroughly interested in the process of healing, and the resources needed to provide for a child’s post slavery journey. O.U.R. has worked hard to make sure that children have the best opportunity possible for healing after the rescue, and that is what aftercare is all about.
Tim noticed that in every aftercare center they visited, it didn’t take long for Tony to quietly take the director of that facility aside and have a private conversation with them as they walked about the property. Catching onto this pattern, at the final aftercare center of their day, Tim watched Tony until, just as predicted, Tony took the aftercare director aside. But this time, Tim followed closely behind them and listened in on their conversation. Unbeknownst to Tony, this aftercare home was very special to Tim because the Ballard family was in the process of adopting two children from that facility. During this quiet conversation Tim overheard Tony ask, “What does it cost to run this place?” The woman gave Tony an annual amount, and Tony said, “I’m going to fund this for 2 years.”
Awestruck, Tim remembered this moment for many years. Tony’s quiet conversation deeply impacted him, and his family, in a temporal way, but it also had a profound effect on Tim’s perspective. Years later Tim was walking with Tony near the Robbin’s summer home in Florida when he asked Tony, “What is it with you? I hang out with lots of donors, no one does this. You’re secretly dropping hundreds of thousands of dollars everywhere we go, and you don’t even do the research on who these people are sometimes. You’re just giving and giving! Why do you do that?”
Tony responded, “You don’t know the secret?!”
Bewildered, Tim asked, “What? What’s the secret?”
Tony responded, “The secret to living is giving.”
Tony’s Blessing:
“Come into my office.” Tim followed Tony into a large room in the home. “I’m going to give you a blessing.”
In that office, Tony led them through a meditative session in which he invited Tim to ponder, deeply focusing on times in his life when he had been involved in altruistic, authentic service, either as the giver of service or the receiver of service. Tim thought of times when he had been touched in some way by charity, love, compassion, and giving.
Through this session, Tim began to feel a deep feeling in his heart and soul. It was a familiar feeling from a crossroads in his life, between Dogwood Road and 4th Street, between going o the comfort of home and going to serve someone in need. Between his own natural and carnal desire to run away, to hide, and staying the course for someone in need of his time and compassion. The same feeling that flowed through his body as he drove down 4th Street and embarked on a mission. Here in Tony’s office, again Tim felt immersed in that same exact feeling of optimism, love, and energy!
“How are you feeling right now?” Tony asked.
Tim exuberantly replied, “I want to go run a marathon right now! I have energy, I’m excited, I’m happy!”
“Exactly! Tim, when I give, even when it’s irrational, but serving other people, this is what happens to me!”
“Why is this happening?” Tim asked.
Then Tony began to explain the science; the underlying, physiological explanation for why charity, selfless service, gratitude, compassion, and giving lead to such an empowering feeling. Research has shown that when you’re grateful and subsequently charitable, your brain releases a beautiful cocktail of chemicals like dopamine, serotonin, and oxytocin. These neurotransmitters contribute to feelings of well-being, happiness, and unity. When this natural cocktail begins coursing through your brain, you experience pleasant feelings which in turn enhance your sense of creativity, optimism, and courage. This can lead a person to great achievement and positivity! And that’s the secret! The secret to living is giving.
Who doesn’t want this?
Who wouldn’t want to be able to have this profound sense of well-being and positivity as a consistent part of their life? In the efforts of those combatting human trafficking this is a valuable principle. In fact, Tim goes on to tell the story of how this very principle was a key factor in the fight for freedom from modern day slavery. In Cartagena, Colombia, where a growing sex trafficking ring was identified by the Colombian government, Tim and O.U.R. were instrumental in a case that would forever change Tim’s trajectory and the lives of thousands of children around the world.
Continue reading Part 2: Promises to Keep in Cartagena
