Refugees...the topic du jour...

I was tempted to put a compelling photo atop this post.  I resisted it.  I know pictures are worth a 1000 words.  But you've seen a thousand pictures, especially in the last few days.  And your mind is a much better video screen than the screen you are using to view this post.  So, let your imagination fill in the visuals. 

60 million.  That's the latest number of people displaced by war, politics, religion, disasters, conflicts in the last few years.   100's of thousands.  That's the latest number for people streaming across political boundaries in the last week trying to find safety, and calmness...and refuge.  100's.  That's the number who have died in the past few days.  It was Josef Stalin who is credited for saying "one death is a tragedy, one million is a statistic".  We are getting close to validating his opinion.  It won't be long before we become numb to the sheer volume of tragedy and turn to the next crisis of the moment. 

Or will we? 

I work with a refugee housing society in Vancouver British Columbia.  We have a half dozen shelter sites where families come and work through their transition from "paralysis to productivity".  Our track record in helping people is impeccable.  We really do help.  Our success record is really up to God.  Sometimes our help isn't always successful.  People don't always leave us to become uber millionaires.  Sometimes they struggle with low income jobs and difficult family issues.  Coming to a strange land is a lottery ticket.  It gives hope, but doesn't always pay out the maximum prize initially.  Sometimes the success is 20 years down the line when the next generation graduates from university to take up a career in teaching, or medicine, or business, or people work.  Mom or dad sacrificed and junior cashes in.  And though mom and dad still struggle with language, and still get up early or stay up late doing relatively obscure, minimally paying job...they are proud.  Because they have done something significant for their children. 

My mantra in speaking to service clubs, churches, volunteers, concerned citizens is--"we can't do everything but we can't do nothing either".  To do nothing is wrong. 

So, my plea to the readers of this post is simple--"don't do nothing".