Mrs. T. and I have been chatting off and on about what happens when people are devalued and are treated as a means to an end. Bad stuff happens.

Then, this morning, I listened to a riveting podcast about a hostage situation about which I’ve never heard before. It’s from This American Life. Here is the description:

A journalist named Meron Estefanos gets a disturbing tip. She’s given a phone number that supposedly belongs to a group of refugees being held hostage in the Sinai desert. She dials the number, and soon dozens of strangers are begging her to rescue them. How can she ignore them?

I’ve embedded the podcast player below, but you also can click here.