We talk about the latest and greatest deals, the food we’ve made, the money we saved, the gifts we bought and the decorations we created. The one main thing our nation isn’t talking about, however, is that 9 million people have had to flee their own homes and have created new lives for themselves in countries they know nothing about.
Since the outbreak of the civil war in March of 2011, 3 million Syrians have found safety in neighboring countries like Lebanon, Jordan and Iraq. 6.5 million are internally displaced within Syria and 150,000 have declared asylum in the European Union according to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. What did the innocent people of Syria do to deserve such tragedy and devastation to the land that they love?
Thanksgiving wasn’t that long ago–a time meant to be spent with friends and family to reflect on what we are grateful for. While Syria doesn’t celebrate Thanksgiving, we were still fortunate to have the option to celebrate that day, in the country we love and cherish.
It’s a controversial discussion right now. Some may say: “Why should we care about what’s happening to people in other countries when we have people starving, sleeping in the streets and dying because of overdoses right here on our turf?”
To answer those people, while those are all severe issues and injustices that must be a priority in fixing, we as individuals of a society in which we want to continue to flourish and succeed, must treat all equally. On a single night in the United States in January 2013, there were 610,042 people experiencing homelessness. That was almost three years ago and the number dropped seven percent from 2007 and is continuing to decrease, thankfully.
What, are we going to allow that one person who was allegedly a member of ISIS pretending to be a refugee ruin it for the entire 9 million other refugees who need help? No. People take advantage every day. Whether it is welfare, foster care, immigration and so many other ways, are we just supposed to stop those programs? No. We must fix them. But that is up to a nation that prides itself with freedom of speech, with access to speak directly with the people voted into office by its people.
In other words, this isn’t just a political matter, this is a humanitarian crisis and we have to be focused on the end goal, to rid the world of mass violence and extreme poverty. How do you do that? There are probably a bunch of different ways, but we can start by being the voice for the millions of voiceless and not fighting against the people who actually need our help and love.
It doesn’t matter whether it’s someone from across the world or just next door, if someone is in need, what is the point of fighting against them? What does that accomplish?
So, at the end of the day, do we really want to be the generation that sits idle while millions of people cry out for our help?