I feel like I live a lifetime each year. One lifetime ends and the next one begins and I’m left trying to catch my breath. The things I leave come back in my dreams, my heart is in 100 places at the same time. I am floating in the vast ocean, a speck, but the water around me connects it all. At times I feel small, at times I feel as though I am the water myself and all these experiences and all the people I know and love are me and I am them and we are one.
How does one cope with war? I have fallen in love with the victims. 100s of them.
On one side of the Aegean Sea I gave to them a water, a smile, a hot meal, shoes, dry clothes, a ride to the ferry, stuffed animals. I looked them in the eyes and tried to communicate the inexpressible. The eyes have their own language, connected to the heart, the more time we spend with people who don’t speak English the more we learn about this universal language.
On one side of the Aegean Sea I gave to them a water, a smile, a hot meal, shoes, dry clothes, a ride to the ferry, stuffed animals. I looked them in the eyes and tried to communicate the inexpressible. The eyes have their own language, connected to the heart, the more time we spend with people who don’t speak English the more we learn about this universal language.
How can you hate someone you don’t know? You haven’t looked in her eyes and if you walked into her neighborhood she would invite you into her home, trusting you even though you are different from her. She would teach you about humanity as everything has been taken from her, but she is still the same. The war has not taken her soul; her love, her trust, her compassion, her ability to put others before herself. You would learn so much from her in just ten minutes.
On the other side of the Aegean Sea these people known as refugees invited me into their homes, they treated me as family, they gave to me as if they had everything to give; they kissed me as if I were their daughter, they gave me their trust, they showed me the depths of their humanity. They told me their stories, we laughed as the children chased bubbles, we sat comfortably as life felt normal for a moment. They invited us to come visit them in Syria when the war ends. They said we would have a feast. A mother told me everyone would be welcome in her home, even those who hate her. She’s heard about people hating her on the news. Hating her because she is a Muslim.
Inside of me is a well of tears. I hate war. I want peace, I long for peace. I want to see these families again, I want to see them in Syria. I want to join together again with volunteers from all over the world to rebuild Syria. But the old men will tell you this war isn’t going to end soon. Many men and women have asked us ‘why are they bombing civilians, they can see who they are bombing and it’s not the rebels, it’s not ISIS, it’s the people. The schools, the homes, the hospitals.” They don’t ask because they think we know the answers, they ask to make us think. From what they’ve told me it seems as though this war isn’t really about one group vs the other it’s all the groups’ vs the people. The children haven’t gone to school for over 5 years now. What will happen to this generation? Many haven’t heard from their family members, they are fleeing as their homes crumble down upon them, they are crawling through smugglers tunnels to get to northern Syria safely.
They are leaving behind everything, well almost everything. One woman proudly showed us her tea cup from Syria and another father gave Brian the watch off his arm. Now the borders are closing. People are trapped in war. Life as they knew it is no more. Resources are few, many have starved. Macedonia closed its border a few weeks ago and many who thought they were on their way to Europe where they could seek asylum and become legal free citizens again are stuck in Greece. 2 men hung themselves in Athens. Children sleep on the streets.
These people don’t want to come to Europe or the States and take our jobs, they don’t want to change our culture. They want to be free. They want to know their children are safe and can go to school. They want to be able to feed their children and give them all they need. They want to make new friends, they want to be listened to. Their dream isn’t to come to Amercia or somewhere in Europe, their dream is to go back to Syria because they all say, “there is nowhere like home”. The people I met and I met thousands are peaceful, humble, generous, giving, grateful.
If you treat someone with dignity they will be dignified. If you show someone kindness they will give you even more kindness in return. You would think that war has the potential to strip away humanity. But I have found the opposite and it makes me hate war even more. Perhaps when all the things that are temporary are taken from us we realize what truly matters and we value not just our own lives more but the lives of everyone else as well.
We have this amazing ability as people to find hope. Perhaps it’s planted in us from the beginning, this inner knowing that there is more than this life. Walking away from this time this is what comforts me. There is more than this life, I have no proof or logic to offer you but I know this in a way I cannot explain, it’s the language of the heart that has no words.
For some this life is nothing but suffering but somehow this suffering refines them, strengthens them, and brings out the best in them. But one hour of pain can feel like a lifetime so I cannot ignore suffering, I cannot dismiss it even though I recognize it as a teacher. Too many genocides have happened even in our lifetime and too often the world has remained quiet. Please don’t be quiet. Speak out against hate, speak out against prejudice, challenge people who may be trapped in fear, help them realize our shared humanity. It’s these attitudes of prejudice and hatred that lead to the mass suffering of so many innocent people.
For some this life is nothing but suffering but somehow this suffering refines them, strengthens them, and brings out the best in them. But one hour of pain can feel like a lifetime so I cannot ignore suffering, I cannot dismiss it even though I recognize it as a teacher. Too many genocides have happened even in our lifetime and too often the world has remained quiet. Please don’t be quiet. Speak out against hate, speak out against prejudice, challenge people who may be trapped in fear, help them realize our shared humanity. It’s these attitudes of prejudice and hatred that lead to the mass suffering of so many innocent people.
Prejudice and hatred is where it starts so when you feel like you can’t do anything to end this present war or help the millions who are now displaced teach tolerance, teach compassion and don’t just teach it, live it. If you don’t know where to start spend time with the poor, spend time with the marginalized, they have always been my greatest teachers.
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