http://www.salon.com/2014/07/16/a_crisis_of_our_own_making_americas_disgraceful_to_response_to_child_refugees_partner/
Those seething with so much rage and xenophobia that they’d hurl ugly
epithets in the faces of children fleeing bloody violence in Central
America bring shame to the whole nation. But the response of mainstream
America hasn’t been much better.
The media’s characterization of what’s going on at our southern border as a “crisis,” politicians pointing fingers at one another and Washington’s refusal to provide the resources necessary to care for a small wave of refugees — not to mention the bipartisan push to send them back home — is just as shameful when one considers the context.In June, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR)reported that in 2013, the global population of refugees from war and persecution hit 51.2 million — exceeding 50 million for the first time since World War II.Half of them were children.The vast majority were “internally displaced persons,” homeless people within their home countries. Many live in fetid refugee camps run by underfunded NGOs, where they face continuing privation and abuse. There are over ten million refugees in Africa, and five million in Asia. More than six million people have been displaced for years, and in some cases decades. The UN estimates that 6.3 million people have been displaced in Syria alone. - Salon
It may not seem like it for many of us, but there is more man-made turmoil in the world than ever before. In your own life you may personally know someone who is having or has had a tough time and you probably feel for them and wish that things like that didn't happen. It probably seems impossible to comprehend then that there are currently more than 50 million people who are displaced from war and persecution alone - if you can feel so much for just one person you may think you will burst if you were to feel the loss and pain of every other person having a rough time in the world.
The higher the population, the more people will be vulnerable to suffering, well, they are vulnerable in the world as it is now. We think that the world is getting "better" with all of these cool and nice things in our lives like organic food, solar power, fancy gadgets and what not, but in reality everything is getting worse.
The extremes are getting more extreme. The desperate are getting more desperate. The greedy are getting more greedy. The poor are getting poorer. The rich are getting richer. Everyone in the middle is oblivious.
The people who are living through daily nightmares get more bitter with every day that passes. Who can blame them? When your family is torn from you, or raped and murdered in front of you, you are more likely to feel rage than compassion. These horrors keep happening, and they keep making more people who are more likely to create more horrors. The cycle goes on and on. The ones who get out are the exceptions.
Can we change? The question should rather be: Are we capable of change? Yes, we are. But will we? That is another matter entirely.
Those seething with so much rage and xenophobia that they’d hurl ugly
epithets in the faces of children fleeing bloody violence in Central
America bring shame to the whole nation. But the response of mainstream
America hasn’t been much better.The media’s characterization of what’s going on at our southern border as a “crisis,” politicians pointing fingers at one another and Washington’s refusal to provide the resources necessary to care for a small wave of refugees — not to mention the bipartisan push to send them back home — is just as shameful when one considers the context.In June, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR)reported that in 2013, the global population of refugees from war and persecution hit 51.2 million — exceeding 50 million for the first time since World War II.Half of them were children.The vast majority were “internally displaced persons,” homeless people within their home countries. Many live in fetid refugee camps run by underfunded NGOs, where they face continuing privation and abuse. There are over ten million refugees in Africa, and five million in Asia. More than six million people have been displaced for years, and in some cases decades. The UN estimates that 6.3 million people have been displaced in Syria alone. - Salon
It may not seem like it for many of us, but there is more man-made turmoil in the world than ever before. In your own life you may personally know someone who is having or has had a tough time and you probably feel for them and wish that things like that didn't happen. It probably seems impossible to comprehend then that there are currently more than 50 million people who are displaced from war and persecution alone - if you can feel so much for just one person you may think you will burst if you were to feel the loss and pain of every other person having a rough time in the world.
The higher the population, the more people will be vulnerable to suffering, well, they are vulnerable in the world as it is now. We think that the world is getting "better" with all of these cool and nice things in our lives like organic food, solar power, fancy gadgets and what not, but in reality everything is getting worse.
The extremes are getting more extreme. The desperate are getting more desperate. The greedy are getting more greedy. The poor are getting poorer. The rich are getting richer. Everyone in the middle is oblivious.
The people who are living through daily nightmares get more bitter with every day that passes. Who can blame them? When your family is torn from you, or raped and murdered in front of you, you are more likely to feel rage than compassion. These horrors keep happening, and they keep making more people who are more likely to create more horrors. The cycle goes on and on. The ones who get out are the exceptions.
Can we change? The question should rather be: Are we capable of change? Yes, we are. But will we? That is another matter entirely.
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