This post may be one of the most controversial posts that I have ever written. But here it goes…
This is a photograph of a poster I purchased at the Holocaust Museum more than a decade ago. “I didn’t speak up … and then they came for me”.
I interpret the words of Pastor Martin Niemoller as an important lesson. We need to be the voice for the voiceless. We should never forget humanity and to help the less fortunate. For if we do… then what?
Yet, I am afraid that many of us might have forgotten, as now we are filling our social media timelines, newspapers, magazines and on – air programming with comments that are often unkind words towards others or filled with vile protests. How can that be when the United States is a human tapestry full of cultural richness? The majority of who are reading this blog can trace via Ancestry.com their roots to a place across the great oceans of this world. And, while most of us were not refugees, we are largely the decedents of immigrants who may have left their homelands due to oppression or in times of war.
Related: 2013 the US accepted 2/3 of the worlds’ refugees
I know that my ancestors arrived during what we may call “different times”. Before the 9/11 era. Before the Paris bombings a week ago.
However, the concern a parent has over the welfare of their child is a concept that is timeless. The hunger of a child is just as upsetting and real in 2015 as it was in 1915. A parent who loves their child will stop at nothing to protect them. Mothers and fathers will persevere and risk great danger solely because they are motivated by love and a dream to find for their family a safe harbor where they can raise their family in peace.
So when the refugees from Syria arrive in California I will show my support and greet my new neighbors. I will find a way to bring food and other supplies to help out these families that have traveled so far and experienced so much adversity.
My helping those from Syria also will not mean that I am turning my back on the needs of those who are already in my community. I promise you that. In fact feel free to join our family as we help the FRIENDS MOVEMENT feed the homeless on Thanksgiving Day.
And if you wish – check out these websites that are ways to help refugees from all over the world be safe.
INTERNATIONAL RESCUE ORG (providing help to those already in California)
Thank you for being a reader of my blog. Happy Thanksgiving to all –
xo
Thank you for writing this. The hateful posts cluttering social media this week depressed me, and left me feeling that there was little hope for our nation’s soul. You remind me that there are kind and open hearts here, pushing back at the fear. Peace and good health to you and your family this Thanksgiving!
You are very welcome. There is hope in this world. In the eyes of every child. Happy Thanksgiving to you and yours, as well. xo