Studying abroad has changed my perspective on many things in my life, and changed me as a person greatly. In my 11 weeks abroad (and counting), I have seen many beautiful places, but I have seen the hardships of many people as well.
Following the Paris attacks, I did a lot of thinking regarding what is going on in our world. As I scroll through my Facebook feed, I notice a lot of misguided comments regarding what to do with the Syrian refugees. As a student abroad in Salzburg, I see the refugees every time I go to the train station, occasionally at the store, and also being loaded onto buses. When I cross the borders into a new country via bus, a police officer boards the bus and checks all the passenger’s passports. I have seen parents trying, in broken English, to buy food at the store for their families. I have seen men trying to clean themselves in the sink in a small bathroom on a train headed to Italy. I have seen a group of people going through the most incredible hardship they will ever face.
I do not see terrorists.
What I see is a family who has been torn out of their country due to a war they do not want to be involved in. I see a child sleeping on concrete in an unfamiliar train station, in a country whose language they do not know. I see a mother nursing a child, barricaded in a small room along with 40 to 50 others in a train station.
I do not see a terrorist.
Stereotyping these people as terrorists is horrific. This kind of ignorant thinking regarding refugees is abominable. If we categorize all the Syrian refugees and all Muslims as terrorists, then with that kind of thinking, we should categorize all Germans as Nazis, all white teen males as those who will shoot up schools, all police officers as unjust and unfair.
It is this kind of thinking that does not help the situation, but rather escalates it. If we categorize one refugee’s actions into a whole group of refugee's actions, nothing will get solved.
These people are humans. They are someone’s wife, husband, brother, sister, mother, father, child, and so on. They are fleeing their home from the same terrorists so many accuse them to be.
In a country that advocates for black rights, women’s rights, and LGBT+ rights, it horrifies me that so many Americans are generalizing an entire group of millions based on the action of one terrorist who used a group of so many vulnerable people as a disguise to execute his horrific agenda.
This kind of hateful generalization of Syrian refugees and Muslims will not eliminate ISIS. What will eliminate ISIS is uniting together as a world, not condemning a group of so many innocent people. Instead of fighting hate with more hate, let's unite together to defeat the source, not those trying to escape the source. Instead of spreading more hate and negativity, let's spread more peace, unity and love.
