The Adventure of Being a Part of the World

     My inspiration for this blog post come from, believe it or not, Netflix. A lot of my posts are inspired by things I watch, I realize (and by a lot I mean two).

There is this great show called "My Next Guest Needs No Introduction." It is hosted by David Letterman and so far it only has two episodes, but both episodes are great. The two guests have been the former president of the United States (who needs no introduction), but I will tell you anyway, Barack Obama and the most recent episode was with George Clooney. Both guests are known worldwide and have a shared interest in the lives and well being of humans.

     George Clooney, I didn't realize, is very engaged in helping refugees as much as he can, even before he met his wife Amal Clooney who is a lawyer specializing in international law and human rights. As a lawyer she has taken some very powerful organizations to court, such as, Isis. Interview with George and Amal Clooney.

     Okay, enough praise of the seemingly wonderful and caring people that are George and Amal Clooney.  This series just reminded me of something that I have been thinking about. As someone who is half Norwegian, and half USAian (as someone once told me I was). I was sort of wondering about the awareness that other USAians have of the world around them, because I get the impression that I am more aware of the fact that there is other countries that have other problems out there than the average young american adult. My Mom said to me one day that it might be because I grew up with half of my family on the other side of the world, so I knew that there were other places out there from a very young age. It is something I have noticed with not all but a lot of Young Americans that have one or more foreign parents. They always seem to understand and be aware that there are other countries that exist other than The United States. I know people are aware that other countries exist but we often act like The U.S is the only one that matters.  

     Enough rambling, let me get to the point of this post, I often feel as if Americans are often very absorbed in the politics and problems of the U.S. and often don't consider the fact that as a part of the USA, we are part of the world and there are a lot of problems in the world that may be bigger than some of ours. Now I am not saying that the U.S. does not have big problems, I am just saying that we should try and widen our scope a little bit. We as humans are part of the world and should have a little bit of empathy and consideration for the other humans out there. 

     Last time I checked people are not fleeing the U.S. because they fear for their lives (applying to live in Canada because Donald Trump became president doesn't count). Forced displacement is at an all

time high according to The UN Refugee Agency. The UNHCR Forced Displacement is at an All Time High. 65.6 million people fled their homes because of conflict and persecution in 2016. I think if more Americans considered this fact, the world would be a much better place. One of the things that David Letterman and George Clooney talk about is the fact that George Clooney can help refugees because he can afford to. If more people who could afford to help people in more than shitty situations, (I could not think of adjectives that fit the situation better than curse words so I apologize), we would have fewer people in refugee camps and happier people. I believe that people will be happier, because helping people makes the people helping people happy,(say that five times fast). It also makes the helpees, happy, because they have now come out of their more than shitty situation. 

   Now, it is expensive to help people in this way but if you look at the Canadian refugee policy, it is often that a group of families, communities and churches sponsor a family, with some help from the government of course. These sponsors do things like welcoming refugees at the airport, help find them a place to live and a place to work. This is not at all a bad solution and divides the cost. It also helps the refugee/refugees feel less isolated, I would imagine, I have no factual evidence of this. Canada's refugee policy. I believe that more than enough churches, and communities in the U.S have the ability and resources to sponsor a refugee/family of refugees a year. 

     I am not accusing Americans of not caring enough, I feel as though we (I  am including myself) are often selfish with our time, money and research, and don't often consider that as bad as we may or may not have it now, as Americans there is always someone out there who has it worse and could benefit from your help. You don't have to do much to help someone, there are non-profits where you can sponsor a child's education who would not normally receive an education because of where they live, for just ten bucks a month.  That is one not expensive step to helping other people have a better life. Compassion International is a great example of a non profit. Compassion International
     I realize that as a college aged girl there is probably a lot I have not considered. But I think that it is important to show that we care about our fellow humans. In an ideal world everyone would be happy and taken care of, but everyone is not, that is why we have Jesus. I leave you with this verse, 1 John 3:17 says "Whoever has the world's goods, and sees his brother in need and closes his heart against him, how does the love of God abide in him?" Love God and Love Others.

If you interested in learning more about refugees there are a number of Ted Talks addressing this topic. I could link a lot but here are three.
Two Nameless Bodies Washed up on the Beach
Our Refugee System is Failing
A Boat Carrying 500 Refugees Sunk


This is Miriam, Signing off