I sat in the back of the auditorium completely in shock. The students around me hurled generalizations around that were enough to make anyone wonder, "Have these people ever met anyone who isn't like them?" As they discussed the many different reasons why people want to flee their home country, one unspoken theme carried from issue to issue: it isn't my problem so I don't have to care about it.
I grew up my entire life ready willing and able to defend the humanity of others. I grew up able to see that the little girl in China who was left in the streets because her parents wanted their only child to be a boy was just as important as I was and just as worthy of being given a shot in life as I was. I would have defended until my last breath that we are all just as human as the next person, but I was wrong.
Dr. Paul Farmer once said, "The idea that some lives matter less, is the root of all that's wrong with the world." I'd venture to take it further and say that the idea that some lives matter less is what draws the line between humanity and insanity. There is too much going on in our world and too much coverage of it for it not to break your heart.
We have people literally running from Syria with their families in tow. They're running because they just want to live. They don't want a better life. They just want to keep the one they've got. As I sit in my bedroom with my biggest concern being that it's a little too chilly, I feel like I've been punched in the gut seeing dads running with their little girls and boys in their arms with fear and determination written all over their faces.
We've got kids in our own towns who will happily call anyone who is kind to them Mommy or Daddy because they've been in the state system since before they could remember and they idea of Mommy or Daddy being a solid person in their life is something their sweet little minds just don't understand.
We sit down in class beside people who are locked in cages of fear and anger that they can't get out of, no matter how hard they try. They're trapped because of things that have happened to them. They got locked up by people who found their lives less valuable.
It's too easy to sit back and say, "That's not my problem." Apathy doesn't ask anything of you, but it won't give you anything in return. Apathy is like a chair that is so comfortable that you never care to realize you're stuck in until you try to get up. Once you realize you're stuck, it is going to take some outside force to get you out of it.
Perhaps 24/7 access to the issues in this world has desensitized us to them. Perhaps we need a huge wake-up call. I made the mistake of thinking that at the university level in America of all places people could understand that the danger that people face and the hurt they face is very real and worth combating. I thought we were a lighthouse of a country that offered hope to all. I thought that anyone who understood how great it is to be an american could easily get behind helping others; it's what we've done for generations. Maybe we've moved past that. Maybe we need a fresh start to make our hearts of stone flesh again.
