Refugees Risking It All
Daily we see stunning and dehumanizing images of Syrian refugees sleeping on the streets, waiting in railway stations, and being beaten by police. Riveted, we watched a television reporter in Hungary kick and trip refugees fleeing authorities.
The world, the European part particularly, is facing one of the worst immigration crises since World War II. According to the United Nations, 4.1 million Syrians are refugees abroad. The reality is that people are displacing more and more, seeking refuge in developed countries. Humanity has never seen such displacement.
We saw men, women and kids leaving their country with only some clothes and belongings, people fleeing what they call hell to find a safe place to live, a place where they don’t have to fear for their lives. They are fleeing from war, death, violence and all kinds of persecutions. Like many refugees before them, they left behind possessions, family and careers to look for a better place.
They are risking it all to preserve their lives.
We mourn the many others who lose their lives during dangerous trips in flimsy rafts including the story of a three-year-old Syrian boy, Aylan, whose picture went viral on social networks. The photo of this toddler whose drowned body was found on a Turkish beach shocked the world and sparked outrage across the globe. It embarrassed political leaders as far away as Canada where authorities had rejected an asylum application from the boy’s relatives.
These desperate images are familiar.
At one time, this kind of news was closer to America. Over the decades thousands of refugees fleeing persecution, political instability or poverty from the Caribbean showed up on Florida’s shores and shocked the entire world watching it live on TV.
Many of us are refugees and migrants or children or grandchildren of immigrants who fled violence or sought opportunity here.
Germany and Austria have opened their doors to 800,000 refugees. France is accepting 24,000. And now Obama says the U.S. will accept 10,000.
As some countries offer solace and a chance to start from zero there is some hope to start a new life with all the challenges included.
