"I don't think that being a strong person is about ignoring your emotions and fighting your feelings. Putting on a brave face doesn't mean you're a brave person. That's why everybody in my life knows everything that I'm going through. I can't hide anything from them. People need to realise that being open isn't the same as being weak."

- Taylor Swift

Sunday, July 10, 2011

Boat People.

If you are reading this, right now, I'm assuming that you have internet access. I'm assuming you have clothes on your back and a roof over your head. I'm assuming that when you get thirsty, the water you drink won't kill you. I'm assuming that when you get hungry, there's food in a fridge that belongs to you, and works. Stupid assumptions, you may say. But there are people in this world of which those most basic assumptions would prove to be false.

We, as Australians, have no right to turn down refugees as we do. We are so cold-hearted and narrow-minded. We dehumanize refugees, we process them like we might process meat, we fear what they will take when we have everything to give. We have to stop thinking of this as a war between the races, between the nations, between the classes. This is not a black vs white game, this is not rich vs poor. This is man to man. From the moment we are born we have the responsibilities to help our brothers and sisters across the globe and save humanity. At least, that's what I was taught. How has the world failed you, that you refuse to do God's work? That you refuse to do the work that is our responsibility? We must help others because we all know that if we were them, we would like to think others would help us. What's mine is ours, that is the oath we take when we come into this world and we are only released from it when we depart this life. What's mine is yours. I have given everything to this world, and you know why? Because none of us, man or woman, rich or poor, black or white, gets out of this alive. So we have to stick together.

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