Quick Note on Compassion
I came across this just now in connection with the terrorist attacks in Belgium, a reminder of human compassion from the late, great Fred Rogers:
“When I was a boy and I would see scary things in the news, my mother would say to me, ‘Look for the helpers. You will always find people who are helping.’ To this day, especially in times of ‘disaster,’ I remember my mother’s words and I am always comforted by realizing that there are still so many helpers – so many caring people in this world.”
It bears mentioning that this is who you are: a helper. The fact that you’re reading this right now means that you care about the world around you. And on behalf of everyone you’re helping: Thank You.
Btw, if you want to be even prouder to be a kind and decent American, I hope you’ll check this out:
The idea of looking for the helpers is a good one. Here is a current example.
Several countries are turning away the refugees from war torn areas. Many of us are highly disturbed by the lack of compassion. However, even in the countries which are turning away refugees there are people who, at considerable personal cost, are doing what they can to help them. And, that is having an effect. It is causing many of the refugees to appreciate greatly the people who are helping them and to re-think their own religious beliefs.
As we know, slavery was once legal in the southern states of the U.S. But even where slavery was legal, there were people who opposed it on moral grounds and worked towards ending it.
So everywhere there is evil, there are people who oppose the evil.
That’s nice, and you’re 100% correct.
Craig,
The plight of refugees fleeing war torn , or even economically deprived nations is very tragic.
There are no winners in such situations. The plight of the refugees is tragic, the population of the host nation are also victims, the nation the refugees came from is impoverished by the loss of useful citizens, while the stress on politicians and officials is enormous.
The days are long gone when the noble sentiments written on the Statue of Liberty are relevant.
Compassion without consideration only adds to the tragedy. The effects of mass migration on such an unprecedented scale can’t be accommodated by host nations. It’s important when framing public policies to remain objective and not allow excessive sentiment and compassion for individuals override effective public policy.
Refugees, whether fleeing economic deprivation or war, should remain citizens of their own nation. Harsh as it may seem, civil wars and bad, even tyrannical, governments have always been part of a nation’s growing process. Often the lessons learned from civil unrest form the basis of reform and tolerant societies. In the aftermath of civil war the different parts of society are forced to cooperate and resolve their differences from their own resources.
These solutions must come from the warring parties themselves. Foreign powers, no matter how well meaning, invariably just complicate and prolong the process of conflict.
The Australian government is often criticized for it’s tough and uncompromising policy regarding illegal migration. Yet those critics who accuse the government of lacking compassion, can provide no other solution except greater misery and tragedy.
Unfortunately, the growth of mass communications has produced an era where refugees feel entitled to leave the circumstance of where they live, and migrate elsewhere. This may have been once possible, and even desirable, when large, futile,and sparsely populated nations needed migrants, but that era disappeared at least 40 years ago.
Nations like the UK with a land area roughly half that of California and twice the population, simply can’t absorb a huge influx of migrants. Nor can British culture continue to survive such an influx. The UK taxpayer expects his government to provide services for themselves,their children and the elderly, not suffer deprivation due to a misguided sense of compassion.
It’s a very sad situation, with no winners only victims in a human tragedy.