Refugees (1)
Refugees ... running from
war, poverty, persecution ... have been on the headline news everyday around
the world, for quite a few years ...
The crisis in Syria has definitely made the situation worse, with the number of
refugees being in the millions now ...
For every person who watches the news:
the nagging question has no straight answer:
What can countries on whose doorsteps the refugees are lining up do?
How many a time have I
thought about it, and how many a time have I asked people for their opinions,
But every answer I got might solve one part of the problem, only to create
another one,
So I’m going to put
political correctness aside, to look at this issue from opposing perspectives,
Perhaps reason and compassion can combine,
After all, compassion can be the very outcome of reason,
Some research suggest that
humans, and in fact all animals, are “wired” to be compassionate,
So perhaps it is the case that humans have learned to mute the call of
compassion in their minds, by some reasoning that they have learned,
In which case more reasoning will be needed ... in order to reopen the gates of
compassion.
I’ll never forget the news
footage that I saw of a French woman, who lived all her life in that town on
the coast of the English Channel, in a pristine and idyllic place,
Every day, she drove from one point to another ... enjoying every moment and
every scene, perhaps wishing that life never ended ...
Suddenly that town, its
streets and beaches ... were swamped by migrants trying to cross the Channel to
Britain,
The view of their misery, poverty, homelessness ... was a shocking reminder to
that woman, and all the residents of that town, and indeed all of France ...
that nothing can last forever,
“I am not cruel or lacking
empathy, but why me, my town and my country ... it is not my fault that these
people are misfortunate, they are fighting one another in their country, and
those migrants come from both sides of their divides ...”
These are the thoughts that cross every person’s mind that lives in Western
countries these days, and Western peoples and politicians cannot agree on an
answer ... perhaps because there isn’t one
Refugees (2)
This is a serious problem
for Western countries, whose economies are struggling, and whose welfare and
medicare systems are stretched to their limit,
And if those refugees are left just to camp somewhere and work illegally ...
they’ll be living in poverty, and will be tempted by crime ... of all kinds,
And we shouldn’t be surprised that some
people are nervous about terrorists being amongst them, waiting for an
opportunity to strike,
And neither should we be
surprised that some feel that their countries should not welcome such huge
numbers of Muslims, many of whom seem conservative, and would want to practice
their rituals ... and in the future: implement their laws,
As COB has expressed it
many times, Muslim nations aren’t seen by the world as a role model in any way,
and wouldn’t want to copy their laws and traditions,
Besides, all people of
religion generally aren’t comfortable with the idea of multi-religious
societies,
Muslims themselves are unwelcoming to other religions in areas and towns which
are exclusive to them, and let’s not forget how uncomfortable Western women are
made to feel if they had to live in conservative Islamic countries ...
This mutual unwelcomeness
creates tension, wherever people of different religions have to mix,
And although in the Middle
East different sects and religions have lived for many centuries side by side,
let’s not forget that the friendship between them is only superficial,
They do not mix socially, there is political disaccord between them, and their
history speaks a lot of past wrongs and conflict,
So all these artificial
barriers between people, which have been created by belief systems ... stand
between them,
But despite that, we have
seen that many Westerners were able to overcome those barriers, and let their
natural compassion drive them,
They opened their doors, they got involved in helping refugees, and they
continue putting pressure on their governments to do more ...
Refugees (3)
As COB has expressed it
many times, whether the conflicts of the Middle Ease are the result of
international conspiracies or not: it is up to the peoples of the Middle East
to defuse them and live together in harmony,
It is up to them to forget
the past and look forward to a prosperous and peaceful future,
But as long as their religious
authorities keep issuing judgements on behalf of their gods, and making
decisions on who should live and who should die, and which piece of land
belongs to who and who should be thrown out of their homes:
The situation in the Middle East will only get worse, and the deterioration is
accelerating really fast now ...
And this is not a god’s
decision, it is only the natural consequence of the deeds and the passions and
the religious beliefs of the peoples of the Middle East,
From this standpoint I
really can’t see that the world powers are the culprit,
However, I hasten to say, that world powers have indeed taken advantage of the
time old hatred between the various religious and ethnic groups of the Middle
East, and even though their policies concerning that area are only making the
situation worse: they do not want to stop ...
Let’s face it,
industrialised countries find the Middle East as a great opportunity for
business ...
Weapons, technology, and services exports .... and of course redevelopment of
devastated cities, not to mention the biggest oil reserves of the world which
happen to be there ... pour much needed funds into those economies which have
been struggling for a long time,
Yet the short sightedness
of the leaders of the West, whose main interest is to score the highest
approval rating, narrows the vision and limits their options,
The democratic system of
the West needs a complete overhaul, and if the West is not prepared to make the
necessary changes in their system: the exploitation of world conflicts and
poverty will continue to fire back at the West,
And this is bad news not
just for the West but indeed the whole world,
So for Arabs, to say: the
refugees have fled their countries because of the West’s policies is only
partly true,
From this standpoint, yes
the West does have a moral responsibility,
But the question remains: how can this moral responsibility be carried out
practically?
Because as mentioned in a previous post, if the doors of Western countries are
opened wide to every refugee ... Western countries will have a series of new
problems to deal with ...
Refugees (4)
I will not try to explain logically or chemically ... or from an
evolutionary point of view ... why humans make friends and why they are
compassionate to complete strangers ...
Not because I don’t have the data to support any line of argument that I
can follow, and neither because I don’t have an academic institute to back me
up,
The way I see it, friendship and
compassion is a human spirit, and is not driven by chemistry, evolution or
financial and strategic benefit,
Once you’ve moulded it in one of those moulds, you’ve stripped its
essence from it, and reduced it to an ideology and perhaps a mundane law:
In which case, it will have an antithesis, by the Law of this world,
Worse still if you say it is the commandment of a god, who will reward
humans if they act compassionately and in a friendly way with one another,
And why should any action that we do or any feeling that we feel ...
have some benefit that can be measured ... whether here on earth or in some
presumed heaven,
I say this, while completely aware of the interdependence of people on
one another ...
And with the financial crises and environmental issues which do not
recognise borders, in the back of my mind,
But this should not be the line of reasoning,
From a historic perspective, it looks as if humans have taught
themselves to narrow the scope of friendship and compassion to the group or
groups of people ... who have been recognised by their religions and ideologies
...
At the present, these separations are firing back ... at everyone,
And human ideologies have to evolve ... to a stage where these separations are
removed from human minds and the practical steps are made ... to move forward
in this direction
Refugees (5)
Compassion is the spirit
which is capable of overriding the political, religious, cultural, racial ...
barriers between the peoples of the world,
And indeed the way to come
out of the divisive frame of mind, which has been causing constant misery and
strife,
And if anyone is still incapable of
recognising the Good that is above local good, compassion is the approach to
it,
Because it prepares one’s heart and mind to give everyone the same right to
exist and express themselves ... as everyone else,
Local good has its role to
play, in building personal and social entities ... while the Good is universal
Law of the world,
And the two-way street between the two is the natural law,
When this is broken, peace and prosperity are not evenly distributed, and they
can’t last long
