Humanity is Lost

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I had an early dinner last night with some friends high in the hills behind Mersin.  In our group were 3 little boys who ran around having fun and just being kids.  They laughed, they played, they ate a hearty meal and then they left with their families to return to their warm, safe homes.

Aylan

I too returned to my warm, safe home where I sat on my terrace and opened my social media.  The one photo that was shared over and over again, the photo that filled my newsfeed was of a young boy, in a neat red shirt, blue pants and tiny, tiny shoes, no older than those that I shared my dinner with, lying dead on the beach in Bodrum.  It seems that humanity has lost folks.  This is it for all of us.

Just take a moment to look at the photo.  Really look at it.  This is the world we live in.  This little boy has been identified as Aylan Kurdi and right now should be safe in the bosom of his family and not lying in a body bag waiting to be expatriated back to his homeland for burial.

Aylan along with his mother and his brother perished as they attempted to cross the Mediterranean Sea between Bodrum (Türkiye) and Kos (Greece) in a small dingy.  They have become a statistic, one of more than 2,600 people who have died trying to cross to Europe from Türkiye in 2015.  This is the most deadly migrant crossing point in the world and this figure is only going to get higher.  Those who do make it across to Greece then find themselves in another country that is unable to cope with the sheer volume arriving on its shores – let’s not forget that Greece is in the midst of an economic crisis.  But they are still the lucky ones as they are in Europe now and their dream for a new, better life for them and their family is possible.

In Türkiye there are over 1.7 million Syrian refugees currently seeking asylum.  When the fighting in Syria began Türkiye opened its borders with the expectation that the conflict would be short lived and the refugees would return to their homeland.  Five years on and the conflict is ongoing, if not worse, and each day brings more waves of people fleeing for safety.  The Turkish Government is working furiously to support the refugees but the huge cost is taking a toll on the country with resentment building between the Turkish people and the Syrian refugees.  Turkish people are well known for their generosity but with so many Turkish families living below the poverty line there is building anger that any Government funding be directed towards helping their own people and not those who should not be living here in the first instance. Türkiye also has the constant struggle with maintaining its borders, ongoing issues with its neighbours, the very real threat of terrorism and the recent disruption to the cease fire with the PKK.

I have always been quite opinionated about refugees and asylum seekers in Australia.  The Turk had to jump through some pretty big hoops before he got residency and I believed that anyone wishing to enter Australia should jump through those same hoops but since living in Mersin my eyes have been opened to the suffering of these people running for their lives.  My selfish behaviour, and the behaviour of so many of us all over the world, is the reason that little Aylan Kurdi lost his life yesterday.

Did you know that in Australia boats filled with refugees can be towed back into international waters by the Australian coastguard?  How about the fact that David Cameron has said that the UK cannot take in any more refugees?  Is Aylan one of your “pests” David?  Probably not eh?  Did you hear that in Germany a planned asylum centre was burnt down?  In Macedonia there has been fighting at the border crossings.  In the Czech Republic police have been marking and numbering the refugees with washable ink (hello WW2) and, of course, in the Mediterranean the bodies of baby boys are being washed up on Turkish beaches.

Feck people.  We are all living on this earth.  Together.  What is wrong with all of us?  We failed this little boy and we failed his family.  He is lost to the world now but perhaps with this sad photograph doing the rounds on social media the doors will be opened for others that are running for their lives.  I know my opinion has changed.  Perhaps yours will change too.

For those of you who want to help the Migrant Offshore Aid Station is dedicated to preventing migrant deaths at sea and Save the Children is distributing essential items such as nappies, hygiene kits and food.  Give what you can.

From Save Kobane: Even the sea could not carry the heavy burden of this child’s lifeless body, so she returned him to us, to be a testimony of our failure as human beings.  

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23 thoughts on “Humanity is Lost”

  1. Pingback: Humanity is Lost | Tales and Travel

  3. Those photographs are heartbreaking and I really despaired yesterday. The UK is a soft touch in many ways and things need to change – but that’s a separate issue from what is happening at the moment. That poor little boy, the others who have suffered and died….nobody deserves that. The world needs to wake up and find its compassion.

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  4. . . waking up to the causes of these catastrophic images wouldn’t go amiss, either – FUKUS/NATO/Saudi/GCC/Turkey/Jordan/Zionist entity waging economic and real war across the whole region including Africa. It is OUR governments which have unleashed and are supporting crazed Wahabi jihadists across Libya to Yemen to Syria to Iraq to you name it. Britain can find the money to have a squadron of ground attack aircraft operating illegally in Syrian airspace! Britain can find the money to have special forces training jihadis in Turkey and Jordan (how many people knew or cared that Uk’s 22 SAS and the Australian SAS were training Pol Pot’s death squads in Cambodia?), but cannot find the money or resources to deal with the human consequences/blow-back of their actions.
    The actions of the British government and the appalling response from so many ‘Little Englanders’ leaves me ashamed that I have ‘British Citizen’ on my passport.
    I hesitate to say ‘well done’ with this awful image staring back at me, but yet again you have succeeded in in expressing clearly what many feel when confronted by by the enormity of the crimes committed against our brothers and sisters.

    Liked by 1 person

  5. Here Here! Well said. I must say I was a appalled a few years ago to be confronted by friends and family in Australia with the “feck off we’re full” mentality. I realised recently though that most of them now have open eyes and open hearts to this issue. Thanks for another great post Janey.

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  9. Well said Janey. The situation in Germany has escalated. There are many hateful reactions indeed, but luckily the citizens’ initiatives helping the refugees are the majority. Individuals help people where the state failed to.
    I also wrote about it in my blog, especially to encourage people to get involved and help no matter where and how.

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  10. Pingback: A little less conversation, a little more action please | 5 Years, My Brain Hurts A lot!

  11. Humanity isn’t lost, but I do think that the politicians have lost their humanity and perspective. So long as the press in the UK is in the hands of a small minority with a very nasty agenda, people will continue to get sucked into the we’re full mentality. I had aimed on my post to mention that there are very sound economic reasons for allowing more people into the country.

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  14. This is not a new phenomenon. My country sent naval vessels to the Med and for that I’m proud but we need to take in these families. If terrorists manage to get in with them then that is a matter for our police force. My country has always haemorrhaged immigrants to other countries but we are slow to accept others in. Yes our country is economically ruined but we can always find room for another family

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  15. Pingback: Humanity is Lost | popuptokyo

  16. It isn’t the refugees coming into the UK that make the British people mad, it’s the amount of money migrants receive from the government when they get here. Money from our pockets…..that they send out to their families back in their own countries that make us mad and the fact that they think they are entitled to it.
    Nobody wants to see people or children suffer. Yes we should be more open to refugees and offer safe places to those who need it, but not to migrants. There is a difference! Let no human being suffer. But also let no country be taken advantage of for the reasons of greed on the part of the people who are after something for nothing!

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    • It is OUR FAULT these refugees are being forced to run for their very lives and you worry about giving them too much cash??? Just which relatives ‘back home’ are you talking about? The DEAD ONES?? There is no one left ‘back home’ you selfish, ignorant fool. Good God, how can you say those ugly things when the world knows that this is the LARGEST REFUGEE MIGRATION IN RECORDED HISTORY and it’s straining the resources of EVERY big-hearted, God-spirited country who’s taking these terrified, hurt people! Shame on you! SHAME SHAME!

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  17. It’s very easy to see from just 1 point of view and very selfish. At this economy, and you talk about taking the refugees? Who’s gonna pay for them? Are there no longer poverty in destination country? I think the gov of one country should give more attention to their own people first, then they can start thinking about taking the refugees.

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    • Cactie, of course this is my point of view. It is my blog. I don’t believe it is selfish though. Selfish by definition is “devoted to or caring only for oneself; concerned primarily with one’s own interests, benefits, welfare, etc., regardless of others.”

      I am merely bringing to my reader’s attention that we, all of us, need to show some compassion to these refugees.

      In 1845-1852 the Irish were boat people crossing the sea to England. Did England send them back?

      How about in WW2 when children were sent by ship to Australia to be kept safe. Did Australia send them back?

      There is always differing points of view in this world. This is mine.

      Thank you.

      Liked by 1 person

  18. I am trying to build a project to provide a bit of education about refugees. I am writing a fictional Facebook diary about 13 year old Amira from Aleppo, Syria. The idea is that people can walk with Amira and it is informed by the events of that day in history.
    Please come and give me some feedback.
    It is called “I am Amira” on Facebook or @amira_aleppo on twitter

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  19. I have just read a letter on FB, written by one of the children that arrived from Vietnam in 1984,referred to as ‘ the boat people’ now of course all grown up .
    He mentions how kind the people were! Because of the country that gave them so much, today they are doctors, a chain of restaurant owners etc. all of them ‘giving back’ to the people , of their ‘homeland’.
    I shall endeavour to share this letter. So beautifully written !

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  21. I only found this today, Dec 4th, while browsing for images about something else entirely. I saw the photo of the baby in the sand, and my heart cringed. I had no idea at first who he was, why he was like that but I knew he was dead. When I read your blog, and realized it was one of the Syrian refugees, I wept. I’m an American and I know for a fact, we have the space, the money and many of us have the hearts to welcome these wretched people to our shores, into our homes, into our communities. Are they different? Well, hmm … let’s see: they are babies, toddlers, school children, housewives, husbands who work in the fields or in factories, grandmothers and grandfathers, aunts, uncles, cousins … entire generations of families who have been bombed out by the meddling of my country and others! We OWE these people a safe haven! Less bureaucracy, less selfishness, and more humanity please! HUMANE actions are required — not finger pointing at the refugees! It’s like kicking someone who is already down! How brave is that?! How dastardly and cowardly is more like it! For shame on those who worry about the dollars and not the lives of the people .. who aer JUST like US! They need to eat, sleep, have clean water, access to healthcare, housing, they must wear clothing, have work. A refugee treated well today is your ally for life, but one who is harmed further? You create a rage that will eventually consume you!

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