Listen to your heart, each beat stronger than the previous. You see, it seems that every time I open my door and walk outside a new tragedy is bound to hit my phone. I’m afraid to open Facebook and hear of a new mass shooting, a terrorist attack or even a death of a dear friend because the frequency of this event is radically increasing. Frankly, there is no denying that this is the world we live in now, a world where death is the new normality. But does it have to be? Is there something we can do to keep our world in peace.
Let’s just take a closer look at the recent attacks around the world. On July 14, France was attacked by Mohamed Lahouaieij Bouhlel with a 19-ton refrigerated truck and a pistol, in the name of ISIS. According to the NY Times, “The death toll remained at 84, but the number of injured rose to 303, of whom 121 were in hospitals, 26 of them in intensive care.”
Now, let’s move to Turkey -- on June 29, a suicide bombing occurred in Istanbul’s international airport. In total, 44 people were killed and 238 people were wounded. Moving to closer grounds, I’m sure most of you have heard of the Florida attack that happened on June 13, labeled the worst mass shooting in American history. According to the NY Times, 49 people died that night, and 53 were left wounded. Now, how can we possibly make a difference when we have these numbers stack against us? Well, how about humility.
Furthermore, humility can go a long way in combating terrorism. I could already guess that most of you are probably going to be baffled with this suggestion, but hear me out.
We need to keep accepting refugees in order to minimize the effects of ISIS. By leaving future refugees in countries like Syria, we are just incentivizing them to fall into the hands of the enemy. They could easily brainwash kids to join their force and dehumanize them further to commit attack like those listed above.
All in all, accepting more refugees will not only save the lives of these people but it would save the lives of those to come. According to the Bureau of Population, Refugees and Migration, from 1975 to 2015 we have received a total of 3,252,493 refugees into our nation. This may sound like a ridiculously large number, but just take a look at a small space in NYC with a population of 8.550 million civilians. Taking in more refugees wouldn’t be a problem for the U.S. It will be a blessing in disguise.
