#istherehope

Words fail because my heart can’t take the pain. I know you. I know you love me. I know you call because you care. I know you message because you want me to know. But my heart aches. My mind tells me it’s out of obligation. When I know my head is wrong.

It sucks. It sucks worse than any other feeling. It’s disgusting I even have these thoughts. My mind is a jumble. My head cannot comprehend the fact that people actually care. Actually want to be around me.

I look at the failure I’ve become and the burden I know I’ve put on others.

Depression sucks. Because when you become aware of who you are. And what you’ve become and where you’re going. You don’t want to continue being that to those around you.

The ongoing Syrian Refugee crisis has caused a divide in both the American public and American government. Several articles and videos have shown that while some believe that the U.S. should welcome the Syrian refugees with open arms, many others believe that we should ban the refugees altogether. There are concerns about terrorism, crime, and the security policies involved in screening refugees. For instance, politician Ted Cruise proposes that if we do allow refugees, then only Christian Syrian refugees should be permitted by conducting some sort of a religious test, citing that there are no traces of ISIS in other denominations but Islam. Those that call for banning all Syrian refugees propose that Americans’ safety comes first by referencing catastrophes such as the Paris attacks, and statistics of the high crime rate among refugees who are already settled here. Yet still, opening our borders to Syrian refugees brings other issues as well. There is controversy surrounding what policies should be implemented in the background screening refugees, and even the concerns about the lack of rigour in the border policies of our allies. Specifically, Canada’s “fast track” policy to adopt 25,000 new refugees has caused alarm among the U.S. Senate, being that the U.S. and Canada are so closely related by their shared border. Another issue is the difficult process of resettling refugees in the U.S. by resettlement agencies. In the face of it all, the Syrian refugees cling to this glimmer of hope as they bare through the critical conditions of the refugee camps.

I liked how the articles and videos portrayed the diverse opinions regarding the Syrian refugee crisis. I was really able to see the different sides of the issues, and I was able to relate to each one. The video about the Syrian family that resettled in the U.S. really struck a chord with me because it reminded me of when my family and I first moved from Guyana when I was four years old. Similar to the family in the video, my parents wanted a better life for us. Also like the refugees, we were submerged in a culture so different from our own, but today I can say that I identify with many Americans. Going through this has allowed me to empathize with the refugees, and see them in another light. I noticed that some politicians and Americans expressed concerns about what place the refugees have in the U.S., but we have seen and heard it done many times where immigrants assimilated into a new culture. It can be done. On the other hand, I understood where those that propose a ban on refugees are coming from. As an American, I am concerned genuinely about our security policies. Letting such a large number of Syrian refugees in poses a threat because in a crowd so large, we can never be too sure about who we are letting in. That is why our border and screening policies must be so diligent.

While some of the arguments in the video were justified, there were some comments made by politicians that I disagreed with. One of which was the comment made by Ted Cruise that we should ban all Muslim Syrian refugees from entering the country, especially by conducting a religious test to distinguish the Muslim refugees. I found that particularly offensive because it was almost as if he was implying that Muslims are terrorists, which is not true because terrorists can affiliate with any religion. Coming from a family of Islamic background, I find opinions like these unsettling. It would be one thing if he was proposing that due to the security concerns Syrian refugees should be banned, but it is another thing when he isolated a specific group of the refugees. I would have actually have to agree with Donald Trumph that we do not know who among the groups of refugees are Muslim or Christian, however I only partially agree with his statement that “We do not know them” when referring to the refugees. It is true that we really do not know who we are letting in, but that is also true of anyone coming into the U.S. Terrorists can pose as any group of people, even a reporter in the video references terrorists posing as French citizens in the Paris attacks. This is why security procedures should be strict overall, for any group of people, to ensure our country’s safety.

There are several parallels between the Syrian refugee crisis and what we are learning in class about the thirteen colonies. A major similarity is between the Puritans in the Great Migration and the Syrians in this refugee crisis. Both groups were driven out of their own countries and forced to resettle elsewhere in places so different from their own. Another uniformity is this lack of tolerance that still persists today. For instance, Charles I  of England persecuted other religious groups that did not practice the beliefs of the church of England, and among these groups, the Puritans went on to persecute those who did not follow their Puritan doctrine. That relates to the intolerance that some Americans have towards other groups of people, such as Muslims. The fear of terrorism that plagues our nation can even be comparable to modern-day Salem Witch Trials; people pointing fingers at groups of people who have different beliefs.