Many of us have seen the picture of the 3-year-old Syrian boy who was washed up ashore. Does that picture make you feel sick to your stomach? Does it make you feel angry? Does it make you wonder where humanity is headed? This image should make you angry and move you to look for ways to help. To help be part of the solution and reclaim humanity.
The sad truth about this crisis is that it is not the first and it will not be the last. Another sad truth is that there are individuals with power to make this crisis less tragic but they are not doing what they need to do as humans. Some of the politicians that lead the countries that would host these refugees are saying they don't want a large number of Muslims in their countries. Really? Let's set aside the politics and go back to the basics. The basics being that we are all human and are in this together. No one in this world is immune from tragedy. The billionaires, the Muslims, the Christians, the poor, the politicians, we are all in this together and tragedy can hit us any time. What would we do if it were our families in these situations? Wouldn't we want people to help us and look at us as humans regardless of any differences we have?
I'm tired of politicians apologizing for mistakes they have made after thousands of innocent lives have already been lost.
In the Rwandan 1994 Genocide and Civil war, the international community watched as close to 1 million people died in a period of 3 months. Years after, Clinton apologized by saying that if the U.S would have sent troops, he would have saved over 300,000 lives. People that have lost loved ones in tragedies like this don't care about these apologies. They just want their people back. They want to erase this pain from their lives, but that's not possible. The one thing that politicians can do to show that they are truly sorry is to not repeat the same mistakes.
When asked if the USA should allow some of these refugees to come to the county, Donald Trump said "possibly."
This is not enough. This is not making America great. I'm not convinced that any other candidate would give a better answer to satisfy my defeated soul. Unless this becomes a humanity issue and not a political issue, I'm afraid nothing will be done and thousands of lives will be lost again and more apologies will come.
If the politicians are really sorry, why is it that when I turn on the news, I see Syrian refugees walking for days to the borders of their neighboring countries to beg for entry so they can keep their children safe? Isn't this the same scenario my two older brothers and I lived when we walked from Rwanda to the border of Congo running for our lives from a war/genocide we didn't understand? Why do I see bodies being washed up like they did in Lake Kivu all those years ago? Why do I see people fighting to get on trains and throwing their kids through the train window hoping someone in the train will catch the kid and take them with them? Isn't this the same scenario that took place in 1994 when families were trying to stay together while piling up in trucks to take them to safety?
We are tired of apologies. We need action. We need the human race to act as one. Apologies are not and will not be accepted. Actions speak louder than words.
The news needs to help the common person understand ways in which they can help. I believe the large majority of people would sincerely like to be part of a solution but often times we feel too small to affect change. And, yes, that's how I feel now. If you have the power to make change, to bring hope and some type of relief to these refugees and the picture of this boy doesn't move you to action, to be human, then I'm afraid you have no business having the power. You are wasting it and should step down.