Most of us became familiar with the phenomenon Malcolm
Gladwell called the tipping point, in
his best seller by the same name. In his
book, Gladwell advanced the “Law of the Few,” namely that a few
people must champion an idea, concept, or product before it can reach the
tipping point or paradigm shift.
It took the picture of the body of a little Syrian boy
bobbing on the shores of the Aegean Sea in Turkey to make European leaders respond to the plight of thousands of refugees who are risking their
lives to cross into Europe in search of a better life and a safer place to
live.
The photo of the dead little boy cradled in the arms of a local police
officer will be forever seared into our collective conscience.
It took the picture of a young vegetable cart salesman
immolating himself in Tunisia to call attention to the excesses of despotic
governments throughout the Maghreb, to spark what was then called the Arab
Spring, a movement that brought tumultuous change to the adjoining countries.
Regrettably, there were no tipping points that moved
the world to stop genocides in Rwanda, Cambodia, Sudan, and, some suggest, the
Gaza Strip. Millions of people perished. We cannot and should not forget that!
There are many other pictures that illustrate the
plight of millions of people migrating from their place of birth to escape
wars, political repression, and starvation. About half of the refugees are
economic migrants, people abandoning their native lands in search of a better
life and greater opportunities.
Here are some snapshots that illustrate this global
exodus:
· A young mom
feeding her newly born child in a rescue boat off the coast of Libya. The baby
was born on a rubber raft.
· The desperate
screams of a father who lost his two young boys and his wife trying to reach
the Greek island of Kos.
· A column of
desperate people, infants, young, old, women and men, walking through the
Balkans in order to reach Germany.
· A young
African man electrocuted in Calais, France trying to board an electric train to
Britain under the Channel.
· Desperate
people sneaking under razor wire border fences in Hungary on their journey
northward.
· Thousands of
homeless migrants camped at the Italian border with France begging to gain
entrance.
It took the picture of that dead little boy cradled by a
Turkish policeman to spring Germany and France into action.
Almost 3,000 refugees have perished this year trying to cross the Mediterranean.
Germany has pledged up to half a million permits per
year. France pledged seventy-five thousand permits. Britain reluctantly pledged
up to twenty thousand. Italy, Greece, and Spain have hundreds of thousands
within their border. Eastern European countries, however, have shown no openness to
receiving refugees, some for political, others for cultural reasons.
The U.S had pledged a paltry 70,000 permits to date,
but is open to increasing the number.
Xenophobia
& Christianity
Fear or hatred of foreigners is nothing new! People
are afraid of being overrun by newcomers with a different culture, speaking a
different language, and perhaps following a different religion.
Antipathy toward strangers is nothing new. Often it
shows up in the form of bigotry, bias, and discrimination. New comers’ misdeeds
will be exaggerated, their customs ridiculed, and their loyalty and trustworthiness
challenged. In New Orleans, for example, about a century ago, several innocent immigrants were lynched
after being accused of murdering a police official.
As
Christians, our central tenet, in the
words of John Meacham, as it has come
down to us is that we are to reach out when our instincts are to pull inward,
to give when we want to take, to love when we are inclined to hate, to include
when we are tempted to exclude.
Well, in my estimation, the commitment of European and American leaders is a drop in the bucket
when we consider that over four million refugees are camped along the borders of
Jordan, Turkey, and Lebanon. Many thousands more from sub-Sahara Africa are waiting
in North Africa.
History
Repeating Itself?
Least we forget, more than fifty millions immigrated to
the U.S. from Ireland, Italy, Germany, Poland, Russia, Scandinavia, and the
Balkans within a 25-year window, about 125 to 150 years ago, to escape
starvation, political oppression, wars, and in search of religious freedom.
Millions more migrated to Canada, Australia, and South
America, principally Argentina, and Brazil.
They brought with them culture, a strong work ethic,
and a desire for a better life. They helped build whole nations out of outposts.
Surely, the world can do more … Surely we have the
ability to do more … Surely we must do more!
