Syrian refugees in Belgrade, Serbia, are waiting for an opportunity to travel north to cross the border with Hungary, entering the EU [AP] from Aljazeera.com
Dear Governors, Greg Abbott, Nathan Deal, Robert Bentley and your like,
So let me get this straight you abhor terrorists but you will not help the refugees* who are fleeing from terror? You are going to refuse Syrian refugees a place of safety, turn your backs on utterly desperate innocent men, women and children and tell them to go back, go back to the hell they are fleeing.
Exactly how does that make anything better? You think that is the way to keep yourselves safe? That is the example you set your children? We only help ourselves and the rest of humanity be damned. Tell me again exactly how that makes us better than those who act in hate and ignorance, who use violence instead of dialogue and show mercy to none?
Shutting your doors to the innocent is not the way to make your world safe.
Just for a moment imagine it is your child who has had to flee from violence and terror and then imagine that those who claimed the moral ground, who called themselves "good", did not help her when they could?
Maybe those of us who have been lucky enough (purely through the geography of our birth) to be in a position to help those in desperate need should do just that, stand up and help.
You speak of fighting and overcoming evil and yet you've surrendered completely to the fear of evil at the very first step!
Refugees are not terrorists, they are trying to bring their families to places of safety, they are fleeing the terrorists and the horror of war. If you can't see past your own ignorance and prejudice against another person's religion, their nationality, their skin color, their desperation, and most of all, your own fear to see that they are human beings just like yourself then you are condemning yourself to live in perpetual fear.
Surely you are better than this, you can rise to the challenge and not let fear dictate your actions Strength is not pushing away those who need help, strength is pulling them in.
There is no safety to be had by leaving refugees to suffer in camps, to trudge from one closed boarder to another, to have their lives halted as they are left in limbo, no home to return to, no home to flee to, no schools or colleges to resume education in, no jobs to work, no life to be lived.
We are safe only when we do the right thing, when we treat others as we would want to be treated and when we do not fall to ignorance, prejudice, bigotry and fear.
As a man dressed in white recently said to Congress
“Let us treat others with the same passion and compassion with which we want to be treated. Let us seek for others the same possibilities which we seek for ourselves. In a word, if we want security, let us give security."
*Refugee - a person who has been forced to leave their country in order to escape war, persecution, or natural disaster.
For information on the Syrian refugee crisis go here to read the Mercy Corps Quick Facts: What you need to know about the Syrian crisis.
If you want to donate to help Syrian Refugees here is a guide to some some good options including Mercy Corps.
Greg Abbot "Texas will not accept any Syrian refugees & I demand the U.S. act similarly. Security comes first."
Nathan Deal "I’ve issued an executive order directing state agency heads to prevent the resettlement of Syrian refugees in GA."
Robert Bentley "I will not stand complicit to a policy that places the citizens of Alabama in harm’s way. We refuse Syrian refugees."