I was scrolling through Twitter and Facebook and looking at all these videos made me wonder what is happening to this world. The people of Aleppo said goodbye to the world on social media. It’s heartbreaking to see people who just wanted to live another day, who wanted to make a life, who simply wanted to live their life as everyone else does, have to give it up over something that is not their fault.
What I wonder with all this is how there isn’t more media coverage on all the attacks. We know for a fact that it’s happening, but why are we not doing more? Why are we not doing anything? There’s been some recent comparisons of Aleppo to Srebrenica that I do agree with myself. The genocide and murder of innocent people is something that should not keep happen or continue to happen. But it does, unfortunately. A Srebrenica survivor has said himself that “what’s happening in Syria today is almost identical to what happened in Bosnia two decades ago”. Even though the Srebrenica massacre made people say that it will never happen again, it’s happening again. It may be appalling, but can we really say it’s surprising?
The distressing part is that somehow we have all grown accustomed to this as if we’re numb to the repeating dismal acts that keep on happening over and over. I read an article recently where a writer had travelled to Damascus, and noticed that the family he was speaking to had no reactions to the bombs in the distance. The mere fact that anyone could get used to bombs is terrifying for the fact that nobody should be used to it. Areas being attacked in Syria is something that goes on everyday, sort of like a ritual nobody agreed to, and they can’t do anything about it. These attacks are a part of their life, and it might be that they don’t know any other life. It is a mistake to call this tragedy. Tragedies do not happen as often.
This year, I took a Global Learning Community class and learned that not only was Aleppo a rich city, but Syria was a thriving country, too. This is a place that was self-sufficient on wheat, but is now a net importer of wheat. They were an agriculturally rich economy, and we should all believe that someday they can get back to that place. We have a position to help them get back to that place. As global citizens, we can take small parts to help.
This article is not meant to be about the politics, what can possibly even be the right solution, or who is in the right. I obviously cannot tell you any of that. What I can tell you is that there is some sort of human and moral obligation we can somehow take part in. I know that the problem taking place in Syria may be bigger than all of us, and maybe just one person is not enough, but one person can make a difference even if it’s small. There are multiple ways to be involved, and although most of them are through donations, it is still a way to help. Doctors Without Borders, for example, the International Rescue Committee, and more that you can find here. We all have a responsibility to the world and to the people of Syria to show that we do care. We’re here, and we’re here to help. It is ridiculous to think there is nothing that we cannot do to help.
We have a duty to help one another. As a world, as humans, as people with a brain and a heart. This is not about politics, but about how much humanity we have in ourselves. Whatever you may feel towards the state of matters, what you should care more about is how there are innocent people dying everyday. How there are children crying, left alone. And how there are families torn apart. Let’s hope that one day there will be no more people posting on social media their last words. Or that one day, we can stop comparing incidents like this. And perhaps one day, we won’t even need to utter the word “tragedy” ever again. So it can truly never happen again.