Imagine what it would look like if half of an entire population were to pack up their bags and leave their homes. Imagine risking your life trying to flee your country because you know that if you stay your chances of survival are even more slim. This is what the 10.6 million Syrians have been faced with, and this is their reality.
To many of us, home is our sanctuary. It is where we feel safe and secure sitting at our kitchen table, waking up in our fluffy bed surrounded by our five pillows and stuffed animals. How could we ever leave that comfort? What would it take?
So, why is half of the Syrian population fleeing their home country? Well, in 2011 the Syrian people were inspired by the Arab Spring uprisings they saw in Tunisia, Egypt, and Libya. So, the Syrians decided to take to the streets, participating in peaceful demonstrations aimed at the Assad regime’s lack of political evolvement and extreme responses to anti-government graffiti. In response, the government reacted violently. Torturing and killing the protesters, shutting down any claims against the government, and ultimately turning Syrians against each other triggering a relentless Civil War.
This is about the time that a lot of Syrian civilians realized that the violence was probably only going to get worse and they should get out of there quickly. But, many Syrians also didn’t foresee this future and decided to stay in Syria. Now, it’s 2015, the war in Syria is still going on and more and more Syrian refugees are leaving their home. Many of the refugees are moving to neighboring countries such as Lebanon, Jordan, and Turkey, and many are also moving to European countries, some even making it to Canada and the U.S.
So, why should you care? Why should you concern yourself with a matter rooted half way across the world from you? The reality is that this is not a SYRIAN issue. This is a GLOBAL issue. It concerns all of us. When there is a country in dispute being controlled by a corrupt and violent government, it falls on the global community to embrace the citizens who escape and seek refuge.
The Syrian people are taking unbelievable risks in efforts to escape Syria. In the news, you might have recently seen a picture of a 3-year-old boy washed up on a shore in Turkey. He had fled Syria with his family and other refugees on a motorboat headed to an island off the coast of Greece when the boat capsized and he drowned. The picture was all over the Internet, shocking and haunting whoever came across it. It gathered a huge online following around the Syrian refugee crisis, provoking a deep sense of sadness and frustration among observers. (I’m not including the picture in this article because it is quite upsetting but if anyone feels the need to see it you can easily find it online). In Turkey, they created a hashtag to go along with the picture, “KiyiyaVuranInsanlik,” which means “Humanity Washed Ashore.”
If anything can be learned from this crisis, and this innocent boys untimely death, I think it should be that humanity will be lost if we do not all come together and protect the rights that we are afforded.
