Let's Flip This

Please hear me out here. 

This is something that I’ve been contemplating the past few days and I wonder if very many people have stopped to consider it. It’s legitimately a real privilege to not have to put the shoe on the other foot, because you are so sure that your governmental system is above it. 

But, what if it wasn’t?

Imagine that the American government had an authoritarian leader (long shot, I know), who turned on his own people and began attacking them for peaceful protests against his policies, full out military attacks. Would you stand for it?

 
So then, a small group of military men form a resistance and try to fight back. But they lack the resources the government has. Maybe a few other groups pop up too, but the efforts aren’t consolidated and aren’t effective because they are splinter groups and fractured from each other. There is no united resistance at this point.

The government responds by brutally attacking large cities, like New York. Millions of citizens are caught in the crossfire, men, women and children. People who are not actively involved in the conflict, people who may or may not agree with the need for it.

Other countries begin to step in, offering support and resources to the resistance or the government, increasing the magnitude of the conflict.

Whole cities are being destroyed, large beautiful cities full of history and culture. The KKK jumps into the fray and creates the White Christian State of the USA. These people have their own agenda and pick fights with both sides of the already huge conflict. They want to take over and implement their own laws in terms of human rights, race and religion.

So now, war zones are everywhere. You are not safe in your home; you don’t know when your neighbourhood could become a target. You fear for your life, your friends and neighbours, your children, your way of life. You understand that at this point, your only means of self preservation is to get out. The fight is too big, it involves too many people, too many sides, and there is no hope of resolution in the near future. You love your country, but you are scared to live in it as it is.

Now – please, try to imagine this scenario happening in the US. Don’t immediately argue things like “It wouldn’t happen here” or “Well if we were like…” Just picture this scenario without bias.

Countries nearby begin to accept American refugees in a panic, without proper vetting and accepting far more than they can handle. Some of these KKK whack-jobs manage to get in too, and they start attacking the local citizens.

Now the citizens in these countries are also angry and afraid. The rest of the world sees this and decides that accepting American refugees is dangerous. In some countries, the locals begin attacking Americans and telling them to get out. They attack American Christian churches. They attack Americans walking down the street. They feel justified because they are afraid, and many others share their fear. Their media reports on any violence that is committed by an American Christian, but is strangely silent on the violence committed against American Christians. You don’t feel safe here either, even though you’re not one of those violent Christians. Maybe you're not even Christian. Nobody cares to see the difference.

Vetting processes begin that take up to 2 years. In the meantime your family is in constant danger. But you try, and you wait, because there’s nothing else you can do.

Eventually one of the wealthiest countries accepting American refugees places a ban on immigration, including your country and several others. Keep in mind that the US is approximately 80% self-identified Christians. They place an indefinite ban on people from the US. Even though the vetting process they already have in place is extensive and time consuming, involving several agencies and many months or even years, they decide it’s not extreme enough. Even though in that country you risk being attacked and killed, even though the terrorism that happens there is largely domestic. How do you feel? Seriously, how do you feel in this scenario?

This is literally Syria in a nutshell. The vast majority of refugees are not a threat, and they are dying. Extensive vetting processes are already in place. The majority of terrorism that happens in North America is domestic, not foreign. Anyone with any sort of criminal ties is refused entry, and rightly so. 

No, it’s not perfect. Yes, the odd dangerous person gets in. No policy, no plan, no procedure is perfect. If it were we would have no local crime, let's face it. Fear is being used by the American government as a tool to control the population. It’s working, because people who are afraid don’t think rationally. People who are afraid are more than willing to believe the worst. 

“Darkness cannot drive out darkness, only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate, only love can do that.” – Martin Luther King Jr. 

Fear cannot dispel fear, only hope can do that. We need to live our lives driven by hope, by compassion, by love, not by fear. Because fear will never rid us of fear. Nothing will ever be safe enough, foolproof enough, or perfect enough.

Caution is useful. Fear is not. We cannot blindly help with no regard to ourselves, to our families, to our countries because that is reckless. But we should, especially those of us who profess Christianity, love and care for those in need in whatever capacity we realistically can.

You mustn’t call yourself pro-life and disregard the lives of those halfway across the world. You must not deny entry to people who will otherwise die, people requiring medical care to save their lives, people who, deep down, are no different than us; people who want the same things as we do, people who just happen to have been born elsewhere. You must not paint a black and white picture where in order to help your own population you must ignore others.

The rights to safety, to life, to freedom are something that we see as basic human rights for us, but privileges to others. Most individuals in North America have done nothing to earn these rights. We were born into them and we take them for granted.

Some people feel generous in sending money to these war-torn regions, and in terms of charities, (which, speaking of vetting, have been well vetted), I whole-heartedly agree. Donate to charities that help those people on the ground where they are, because that’s triage. That’s necessary. But please don’t let that be the end of it. Don’t fight to keep out well-vetted refugees who are, literally, scared for their lives.

We have the luxury of feeling safe in our homes. We have the privilege of having a society that creates checks and balances, which allows freedom of speech, that allows us to think for ourselves, and we must not take that for granted. We must not let that luxury make us feel more deserving.

Be pro-life. Be pro-quality-of-life. Be pro-life when the choice is hard, when it involves more than holding a sign or sharing an article. Life is life, we are all worth the same.