The Exodus

In recent times, the newspapers, TV is full of disturbing scenes of hordes of refugees from war ravaged nations in west Asia and Africa taking the arduous, life threatening odyssey to reach Europe. A land they think would offer a new lease of life, where they can live peacefully and prosper. While some of them have managed to win a small war and reach the destination, some unfortunate lost all they had including the dear ones. The sight of little Aylan drowned in the seas was heart wrenching, disturbing. The unfortunate father who in the hope of giving good life to his family, lost his two sons and his wife while making an audacious journey towards the sought after land. There are many such who are being tested by destiny while they leave the treacherous, painful past behind, in search of new hope. Tens of thousands of people from Syria, Africa, and Afghanistan are taking a gamble to reach the destination that they think would offer good quality of life and it’s Europe. These poor, helpless souls are seen sailing in small boats, dinghy’s to reach the shores of Greece from where they can enter the land of their dreams. The middle men, the Dalals’s are having a field day, looting these helpless people with a promise to help them reach Europe. In doing so scant regard is given to the safety of these people who along with their toddlers are risking their lives. No wonder, daily, the news of the boats, capsizing in the seas make the headlines.

War and War

Back home the wannabe immigrants have been suffering for decades due to civil wars, military coups, fanaticism. Their life is no less than hell in these war torn, ravaged countries. Killings in hundred’s, daily, is a norm in these butcher houses. The young ones, the future of these countries are brandishing rocket launchers, AK 47 when they should be playing with toys. The seeds of vengeance and hatred are sowed in their innocent minds when they see their parents, family members being gunned down, killed by extremists, the perpetrators. Some time back I read a very disturbing article about the Syrian, Yemeni kids who were displaced from their homes by the war. When interviewed, these young ones talked about avenging the atrocities meted out to them and their families. The minds of these innocents are already corrupted with the thought of revenge. This vicious circle will lead nowhere but death, death and death, but do they really have an option? I am not sure about the authenticity of this story, but it goes like this. People from different continents who had suffered a lot due to wars, famine, drought, crimes met god and complained about the state of affairs in their countries and asked when they would see the back of this pain and misery? The god smiled and said it’s just matter of time when peace, harmony and joy would return to your lives. It was time for an Arab to tell the almighty what his country, land is going through, the perennial pain, death and misery. He wanted to know when people of his land would see the day of light and defeat their pain, God heard his plea patiently but had tears in his eyes. The Arab got his answer, and this has been the case till date.

Europe Here We Come

To free themselves from despair, pain, agony, these sufferers are risking their lives to set foot on the land, which they think would heal their pains. Many European nations have acknowledged this cry for help and have open their borders to accommodate these immigrants. Germany is leading the pack followed by Austria, Greece, UK, Sweden who have also opened their arms without any prejudice, though some countries namely Hungary, Croatia etc. are proving to be villains when they closed their borders on these refugees. But branding them villains would be myopic. Showing solidarity, humaneness in these circumstances is warranted, but they are just trying to protect its own people from the onslaught of thousands of refugees, which can change the demography of their country. They are envisaging problems ahead when these culturally different people enter their society. Time would tell if their decision was right or otherwise. On the other side countries like Germany who had reported many xenophobic incidents in the past have openly welcomed their homes, land to these refugees. It would be interesting to see how these immigrants assimilate in their new home. While Europe has welcomed the refugees, the Arab world from where these people come from, have not shown the same alacrity as others and this is disturbing. It has put a serious question mark on their solidarity for their own people.

TODO Big Brother !!!

While other nations are doing their bit to accommodate these homeless people, serious thought, backed with action need to be taken up by the powerful nations in stemming the exodus from these west Asian and African nations. They need to do everything possible to stop the war in these regions so that people don’t have to leave their homes. The war mongers need to be decimated and environment for parleys and peace talks need to be created. This should be done selflessly without any ulterior motives, or else history is full of cases where the actions have boomeranged. It is time for the powerful nations to show their BIG BROTHERLY instincts and stop this carnage which has led to this exodus. As an international citizen and a well-wisher of these poor souls, I can only wish them a HAPPY JOURNEY.