All the news stories – all the pathos that the twenty
somethings roll out with their vocal fog at its most intense fill the airwaves. Are we really desensitized to the 20 million
refugees wandering across our television screens every evening because they are
so far away? After all the US has always
taken in international refugees (70,000 – 100,000 and often to our country’s
benefit) but compared to the German commitment to 800,000 (they really need the
labor force) it is both small in number and clearly inadequate.
Do we have a humanitarian obligation – our country, our
families, our communities? Nobody wants
to talk about it – we pay taxes and contribute to charities for that sort of
moral compass resolution. Unfortunately one might say the American politicians (not
you and I of course) precipitated all of this displacement with their war,
excuse me, conflict instigation policies for the past two decades; but that is beyond the point. There is a
humanitarian need, no demand, right now that has paralyzed the West.
Our governments are on holiday, our churches are empty now
so nobody hears, and our international organizations are swamped. Not until each individual asks what their own
personal obligation might be can progress be made. For those who listen, let me debunk the argument
that creating more refugee relief will generate more refugees – the migrating
masses have nothing left at home. The
classic nonsense between economic migrants vs. refugees is moot with this
event. So is ignorance.
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