Humans, we've got a problem

Humans, we've got a problem. Newspapers comment on it every day and I can't open my Facebook feed without finding comments on it. You all know what I am talking about. Usually refered to as the refugee crisis, the IS terrorist war or the immigration problem, thus becomming a distant and dark thing. I'd like to refer to it as the human thing.

The human thing started a couple of years ago when people started fighting, people got scared and people started fleeing. A pretty normal human thing to do I'd say. These humans have to wage their lives, leave their possesions and become the plaything of criminal organisations in order to secure their future. If they are lucky enough to make it to safer grounds many are treated as criminals themselves, arrested, protested against and refered to as problems.

Probably not all people entering the European mainland are doing so on humanitarian grounds. There might be some who struggle to feed their kids, who hope to go to school and find a bed to sleep in at night. Again a pretty human thing I'd say.

Then there are those who fight the inflow of foreign faces, afraid to loose their own identity. 'Feed our own people first.' 'Close the borders.' Sometimes I feel ashamed for them, forgetting our tolerant nature, our own history of dispair and following the first populist politician willing to stroke them on the head. But most of the time I feel for them. You must be pretty miserable to envy a refugee. You must really hurt to forget about empathy. And then I feel ashamed of myself, for projecting my own string of thought onto them and pitying them. Who is to say I am right? Let's just say it is a human thing.

Let's make one thing clear. I did not study the history of these conflicts, I am no expert on their complex international nature nor did I visit these countries to witness the war. I can simply relate to all people involved and their emotions. I am flying out to Lesvos, Greece tomorrow to join a foundation giving humantarian aid to people aiming to set foot on the European shore and start their way to immigration. I will meet these humans for the first time.

I would like to share my story, meeting them with you.

#Refugees #Greece #IS #Crisis #Humanitarianaid