"Unless the world finds compassion for this new communality, learns to make sense of one another's voices, its humanity will perish."* I have been a stranger in many places around the world. In those places, I slowly found a place and a home. It hasn't always been easy, but there are many times and many ways that I have been welcomed as a stranger and given food and comfort.
It is a gift to be welcomed into places where you are different from those who surround you. It is a gift that you never forget; a gift that you want to pass on.
Wherever they go, the refugee arrives as a stranger with a story. These stories encompass all that it means to be human. They speak of fear and courage; of despair and hope. They help us to see beyond our comfortable lives, and give us a heart to help. If we are willing to listen.
Today I am asking you to listen to the voices of refugees and for refugees. As you read through these quotes, remember this: We cannot sit back, comfortable in our security, because someday it will be us.
_____________________________________________"No one puts their children in a boat, unless the water is safer than the land." excerpt from "Home" by Warsan Shire
"This is a century of dislocation not merely of body and home, but also of empathy, dignity, compassion."-From Refugees Don't Need Your Pity
"They have no idea what it is like to lose home at the risk of never finding home again, have your entire life split between two lands and become the bridge between two countries."
- Rupi Kaur, Milk & Honey
"To be called a refugee is the opposite of an insult; it is a badge of strength, courage, and victory." Tennessee Office for Refugees
"If we lived in a just world, all nations would protect their citizens' human rights. But that's not our world. Refugees are just one result of injustice. Crucially, they didn't cause their plight; rather, they are victims of profound injustice. Because their home nation cannot or will not protect even their basic human rights, they must migrate in search of protection. They are entitled to this protection, as all of us are, simply by virtue of being human." Patti Tamara Lenard, "Who should pay for the refugees? Here are five possible answers." Washington Post, February 8, 2016
"...If the world measures a refugee according to the worst story, we will always excuse human suffering, saying it is not yet as bad as someone else's." Victoria Armour-Hileman
The way a government treats refugees is very instructive because it shows you how they would treat the rest of us if they thought they could get away with it.- Tony Behn "Living Like a Refugee: New York Must Do More to Help Its Homeless", The Observer, September 9, 2015
"So often the world sits idly by, watching ethnic conflicts flare up, as if these were mere entertainment rather than human beings whose lives are being destroyed. Shouldn't the existence of even one single refugee be a cause for alarm throughout the world?" Urkhan Alakbarov
"While every refugee's story is different and their anguish personal, they all share a common thread of uncommon courage - the courage not only to survive, but to persevere and rebuild their shattered lives." Antonio Guterres, U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees
*From Refugees Don't Need Your Pity
Remember! Purchase Passages Through Pakistan and royalties will go to refugees in the Middle East.
