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Please don’t for a moment think that I’m advocating for people to pick up and make a dash for whatever border they see fit. In fact, this piece is intended to be non-political and non-religious in nature.
Refugee.
That word means so many different things to so many people. To some, it also has a different meaning depending on what part of the world you’re coming from.
In the case of the thousands of people making their way to the United States from as far as Guatemala, many in the United States look at them as freeloaders trying to come here for assistance and handouts.
Move 8,500 miles away to the Middle East and you can almost pick a country and find refugees from there that are fleeing to other countries. Sometimes they’re fleeing for their literal lives and other times simply to get away from the oppression and disgusting treatment they’re being forced to endure.
Those same people that will badmouth refugees in our corner of the world will show some sign of remorse, pity or will at the very least feel bad for what people in the Middle East are going through.
We, and by we I mean the human race, rush to close our borders to those who may be trying to get into another country to escape persecution, oppression or simply want a better life for themselves and their family. Is there anything wrong with wanting your family to be safe or to want your kids to have a better life than you did?
There’s nothing wrong with that. Whether you believe in Jesus or Christianity in any way isn’t really important. Maybe you don’t believe in Jesus as the Son of God, but you do believe in him as a historical figure.
After the birth of Jesus, word got to King Herod that the Messiah had possibly been born and not desiring any competition he did what any despicable ruler would do. He ordered all male children under the age of two in and around the town of Bethlehem to be murdered.
Wanting no part of that action, Mary and Joseph loaded up the donkey, or whatever they had, and jumped on the trail heading south into Egypt where they where foreigners in a distant land. They were refugees, just like the millions around the world right now that are refugees.
What would happen today if Jesus was born and was a refugee? How would Mary, Joseph and Jesus be treated? Would they be accepted into a refugee camp or could they find a safe place to live? Would Jesus be allowed to grow up to become who he was meant to be?
To me, these are all important questions that I believe we need to ask ourselves. Again, I’m not in any way suggesting that countries open up their borders and let the flood of refugees descend, but how about getting knowledgeable people on the subject in a room and let them come up with ideas on how to help solve the 21st-century refugee situation.
Somewhere out there is a refugee that is so remarkable, they have the power to help reshape the world. Maybe it’s with science or math, maybe it’s in the political field or possibly we have a future Pulitzer Prize winning writer amongst the crowd.
Chances are that we have all those and more sitting in refugee camps right now or the people are still in the midst of fleeing and trying to find a safe place to live.
Almost two thousand nineteen years later and we still have refugees in the world. I would argue that the problem has gotten worse over time and not better. That’s largely due to us as a people making advances in both technology and douchebaggery towards others.
As you consider the refugee situation in the world today, I would ask you to remember that when you boil everything down, it doesn’t matter what country we come from or what language we speak or religion we practice.
We’re all human beings and as such we should look for solutions to help our fellow man and not roll our eyes and wonder what’s wrong with “these people” for escaping top save their lives or to try to make a better one for themselves and others.
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Photo credit: Photo courtesy Unsplash
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