This past week hundreds of thousands of people within Aleppo have either been killed or injured and yet for the first 24 hours nobody came to help them. These people are living in a war zone known to the rest of the world and no country nearby and no first world superpower came to their aid. Fathers, mothers, and children killed in the streets by jihadist extremists and nobody came to their aid. So, these Syrians took to social media to express their pain and loss to the world and yet nobody came. Can you imagine yourself in their situation? You have lost your home, you have lost your family, and the city you once called home is ultimately destroyed. You ask for help from the United Nations and neighboring countries and they cannot come to your immediate aid even though they believe helping your people is the right thing to do. But, these entities would rather deal with the politics than go out there and save lives.

Syrians are just like you and I. There is no reason to discriminate them even though they practice Islam and are from the Middle East. And there is no reason to be afraid of them. All they need is shelter, resources, and other people to take action and help them. Yet, we Americans say we are trying to do the right thing, but what have we done? The majority of Syrian people have not evacuated this country that is now a war zone and we have done absolutely nothing to help stop the violence from destroying their country. Instead, the United States is imbedded in this Syrian Civil War by arming individuals to fight for the people of Syria and it has only caused more destruction and devastation. What country are we, that we have enough to spend money on weaponry to arm individuals to continue the fight, rather than find a solution to end it? We made a peace deal with Russia, but what came of that? It failed. We are a nation that is supposed to be an example to the rest of world and yet we allow a catastrophe like this to unfold in a country. We just turn a blind eye. I am ashamed of what the American government has done with “trying to protect the Syrians” and “trying to end the Syrian civil war” because ultimately we have just added gas to the fire. We have encouraged the act of violence rather than peace and we have let it go on for too long.

However, yes organizations started getting involved once hearing of the devastation a day later to help evacuate the Syrians in Aleppo. But, that was a whole day where hundreds of thousands of people died because nobody wanted to do the right thing and take action. While, in the end if someone did take action maybe more lives could have been saved. Something must be done to end this war. We must gather and rally together in support of the Syrian people and stand behind then rather than turn a blind eye. I urge you to do something and take action, whether it be spreading the word, protesting, or helping nonprofits and people there on the ground in Syria because without the public outrage the government will do nothing. We will continue living on normally, as other countries and entities get more involved within this war and cause an even greater catastrophe, if nothing is done. We must the voices for those who are now gone and those who are in need because if we do not their country will continue to burn to the ground. We will then become one of the reasons why they will never have their homeland again.