Just think of this, even you could be one of those escaping with the hope to leave death and violence behind, to forget, and to be able to live in peace.
We read and hear about it constantly. All media cover this one topic right now: The scores of people making their way towards the West.
Yes, I decided to tackle this topic today as well, as I would like to share my emotions with you. My thoughts have been exclusively revolving around this for the past weeks. As SCBC is a small part of your weekly routine and as you read my blog from time to time, I figured that we should not only think about how to achieve our goals of becoming better, prettier, and fitter but think about how well we are off already and why it is so.
I just came back from Vienna, my hometown. Here, in the immediate vicinity of the Hungarian border, one is even closer to the events and participates even more in the tragedy of the people. Austria has opened its heart and demonstrates HUGE empathy. People flock to the train stations to be able to help somehow. And in a country that is sadly sometimes plagued by right wing extremism and where people sometimes live without reservation and bashfulness, this touches me. I thought that our population had become too passive during the last years after the big “Lichtermeer” march in Vienna; too comfortable to stand up and show whom they stand with. Great that I have been proven wrong.
These are moments that show me once again how privileged we are. We are very lucky to belong to the few millions of humans who were born in the right country. We had the opportunity to complete our education, to live and love however we like to, and to burden our daily life with our first world problems.
We are lucky that we don’t share the fate of a family who has lost their child on the journey, who had to leave all their belongings and maybe even their family members behind. And who are left with nothing now in a new country. It saddens, and more than that, angers me that they are being called social welfare exploiters in their misery.
We have to ask ourselves, who is this human who comes to us like thousand others and asks for our help.
I could be one of these many if I had not been born on the right continent for instance. Just think of this, even you could be one of those escaping with the hope to leave death and violence behind, to forget, and to be able to live in peace.
Families send their kids on the journey alone with their last savings, often using the assistance of human traffickers, hoping that they will receive help and a chance where they land.
How big must your desperation be to send away your own, young child…
Everyone who thinks that he has earned his privileged life for himself and that it does not concern him what is going on right now, or who might even be scared that something could be taken from him, should reflect that he only had a little bit more luck, nothing much else…
I have been pondering for days how to help. I don’t simply want to donate money or clothes.
I would like to offer more than a temporary band aid to people. I would like to do something that supports them in their long-term journey to their life in peace and together with their loved ones.
