http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-34137358
I'm restless with empathy tonight over this photo of a Syrian father clinging to his children as they climb out of an inflatable raft that had been losing air off the shores of the Greek island of Kos.
They were not on a family vacation.
They are refugees.
According to Webster's Dictionary a refugee is: "someone who has been forced to leave a country because of war or for religious or polictal reasons"
This definition cannot define the emotion I saw in this photo.
I thought of Aaron in the place of this distraught father. I thought of Zibby in his arms, soaking wet in a flimsy life jacket, afraid. I thought of Ben burying his face in his Dad's embrace..wanting to forget the fear of a sinking boat or even worse...a war torn country and the home he left behind.
And I'm crying.
I feel helpless and far away and so removed from this world problem.
I wish I could help.
They need Home.
The population of world refugees seeking asylum is the highest it's been since World War II. http://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2015/06/refugees-global-peace-index/396122/
Since World War II.
And I know it isn't just Syrians...it's Afghanistan's, Somalians, Colombians, they flee from Sudan and Congo, just to name a few.
I've been to Budapest. I've spent time traveling on the trains through Hungary. I'm not Hungarian. I felt out of place and far away from what I knew to be familiar and comforting. It wasn't home. I was not a refugee seeking asylum in Germany or beyond with my distraught family. I was just a twenty year old girl visiting a friend. No one blocked my way. I wasn't looked down upon as an economical burden. I wasn't stuck inside the train with no where to go. I wasn't running away from war and terror and torture and death and destruction. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/11843189/EU-refugee-crisis-Migrants-in-Bicske-station-Hungary-siege-continues-overnight-live.html
I just keep thinking about these people.
Five hundred of them packed together on a tiny boat for five days and nights.
And I can't rest.
An inflatable raft losing air floating from fear to some kind of freedom...or at least a chance at it.
It's life or death for these people.
They die trying to keep their families safe.
Die trying.
I would too.
What can I do to help them Lord?
What can WE do?
I'm Christian.
Many of them are Muslim.
We are all created equal in the image of God.
Would a Muslim family take in a Christian family like mine?
It doesn't matter.
I really don't know enough to understand the economic, cultural or religious implications...
I just know that I would do my best to feed and clothe, provide for and protect my fellow man from fear and harm.
No matter what.
A little food and shelter won't fix it all for the refugee but it's a start.
Wash up on my doorstep friend.
I'm an old lady now, but I too, can"t get the scene of the 3yr old Syrian boy laying ,
ReplyDeletedead, face down on the beach, little arms extended along his sides. The soldier
tenderly carrying him in his stiffened position...this picture has touched many hearts.
His 5 yr old brother lay on the same beach...as I believe his mother also....the weeping husband and father wanted to go to Canada where they had relatives...now taking his family back to Syria , for buriel....I don't know what to do,
I have no money to speak of , live in subsidized housing, but I could do what I could
if some of the refugees were brought here.....God Bless You for not "sweeping this
crisis under the rug"....I see these massive, spa like homes on the Street of Dreams in lake oswego, and think, if you could live more simply, you with the wealth to build those monstrosities, think how much money could go toward helping. Even if it was to support a family who were relatives, but could take them in if they had the funding...
I lived in Salem years ago, saw these older, widowed now mostly, richer woman using their many credit cards to buy at Meier and Frank and then go home to their big old house, near Bush Park, and i wondered at the time,,,here they live in these huge houses, all alone, probably never going into some of the rooms....yes they earned these big homes, many through their dead husbands , and it seems unfair somehow....we could change some of the ways here in the US that we look at these kinds of living situations, and is some way manage to help others.
I wish I knew the answer, that little dead boy on the beach, and his weeping father haunt me!....I so wish they could have made it to Canada!
I so enjoy your blog
mm,vancouver wa.
mm,vancouver wa.
ReplyDeleteYour heart of wisdom and compassion encourage me and must make an impact on the lives around you. I hope that when I'm in an older place in life I have lived to love and serve others with every resource I've been given. The most precious resource we all have is Love and it should move our hearts to action. Thank you for sharing.
yes, this exactly friend. exactly what I want to say. "Would a Muslim family take in a Christian family like mine?
ReplyDeleteIt doesn't matter.
I really don't know enough to understand the economic, cultural or religious implications...
I just know that I would do my best to feed and clothe, provide for and protect my fellow man from fear and harm.
No matter what."
praying for wisdom and for His everlasting mercy and compassion to flow freely!