I think that sometimes we forget that real people are
involved in the news stories that are so breathlessly related to us by some
form of media. We read the headlines, and the throwaway quotes, and go back to
the football or video game or current reality show that is so important in our
lives. But there are real people involved in each of these. When we talk about
refugees, many are people like ourselves who made the best decision possible
for their families by fleeing a war torn area where a six-sided gunfight with
major weaponry was being held. Most rational folks with children and homes
being blown apart would probably make the decision to leave the general area.
Yet our leaders and many of our citizens simply look at the
survivors as statistics. We don’t really want to be bothered with finding
solutions and go with the most negative approach possible.
The following is a piece I wrote for the Concord Monitor and which was published
this morning, that comments on this issue.
Concord Monitor,
December 19, 2015
Apparently, common sense has become a very scarce commodity
among the leadership in this country.
In a global society more integrated than ever, we are
resorting to solutions like the Willows Palisades and the Berlin Wall to deal
with the flood of refugees that have been swept like loose flotsam into camps
too small to sustain them.
Our country has been feckless in dealing with the cancer
called ISIS that has been growing in the Middle East and now, as the side
effects spread across the world, we appear to be equally clueless in dealing
with those members of our world community who have been cast adrift.
It is part of being a humane society to offer help to those
in extremis. Some of our politicians, however, are busy posturing, and shouting
out the first reactionary thoughts that come to mind from an unsuccessful
playbook that was written centuries ago. Here’s a useful update for the
isolationists and wall-builders. The planet is now like a big open room with no
exits. We are not going to be successful if we spend our time trying to build
walls out of chairs and blankets like kindergartners looking for a hiding
place.
The global society is long past where we can just close our
doors as a nation or a community and think the misfortunes of life will pass us
by. People come into this country every day illegally. They have no screening,
and yes, some wish to do harm. Building high walls won’t change that. As the
world shrinks, we need to find better solutions. Our nation has retreated from
the world scene in recent years. And the primary leading candidates of both
parties are not providing much hope for positive change. But we need to get our
act together quickly.
Glenn K. Currie
No comments:
Post a Comment