Let’s play pretend for a moment.
I’m going to lead you through a hypothetical scenario. Follow along with me, and in your visualization, answer any questions I ask. Try to make this situation as real in your mind as possible.
Ready?
You are in your home. You are sitting down, resting. You don’t have to be at work or school today.
Is someone else there with you? A roommate? A loved one? What are you doing? What is the time of day?
Do you have a clear picture? Good. Let’s move on.
While doing whatever you may be doing, you are absentmindedly taking in the news.
Are you watching television? Scrolling through Facebook or Twitter? Decide on the source that is most realistic for you.
In the news, you see images that look like warfare… You don't want to see that right now. You ignore it.
Your attention is grabbed when you see/hear the words “U.S. torn in two… sudden outbreak of armed fighting in (insert your location here).”
Another statement takes your focus…
“Citizens of (your city) are encouraged to evacuate as armed vehicles make their way to toward them.”
And another,
“Bomb threat declared on (your city). Citizens should flee IMMEDIATELY.”
You keep refreshing the page/reading/listening as similar messages are given, each more foreboding than the last.
How could something like this be happening so suddenly? You know that you would’ve heard about this before.
You check on various social media.
People are sharing articles about what is happening. Captions read things such as, “Is this real?” “This has to be a hoax.” and “Can anyone fit one more person in their car?? They shut down all public transportation. I don’t know how I’m going to get out of here. I’ll curl up in the trunk. I’m desperate!!!”
Are you with someone? How are they reacting? What are they doing? Do you need to calm them down?
Your phone buzzes. Texts are beginning to appear from people you love.
“Are you OK? What is going on??”
“Do you have a way out of here? Do we have time to meet? I don’t want to go alone.”
“PLEASE RESPOND.”
You don’t know which message you should reply to first. You don’t even know what to say. Is this even real?
You consider packing a bag. What will you need? How long will it be until you can come home again? When is the next time you will be able to eat? Is this real?
You look out a window. Families are hastily trying to stuff suitcases into trunks of cars. People are screaming at their phones, pleading for them to gain enough of a signal to call their friends. Mothers are attempting to appear calm. Fathers are crying. Children are sitting on the ground, begging their parents not to leave their pets behind. Is this real?
You hear a sound far in the distance. A loud, dull, thud. It is not by any means a small sound, though apparently far away. A second later, the earth seems to shake. Everyone outside becomes silent. For some reason, you all have the instinct to look toward the sky. You suddenly notice planes high above. Much more than usual. They don’t look like the typical commercial passenger planes. How did nobody notice those before?
Something falls from a plane. It looks rather close by. Do you run? Are you pulling someone to run with you?
You feel the blast shake the earth and a dusty wind nearly knocks you over. Your ears ring from the sound.
Out of the dust, people are appearing with heavy firearms. Large vans and armored vehicles are coming in from every direction. People all around you are being grabbed and taken into vans, screaming, running. The scene is complete chaos. You bob and weave through people and smoke and narrowly escape. Just before leaving the scene, you glance back to your home. It suddenly goes up in flames. You understand that you will never see it or any of your possessions again.
After ducking and sneaking around for some time, you find a space that appears to be safe. You encounter some other people. A few appear to be badly injured. You decide to move together toward the border. If you can get out of the city and away from this madness, maybe you can figure out what is happening and something, anything begins to make sense. Maybe you will at least find someone that can give you a phone to call your loved ones.
You and these people begin to move. Slowly, but steadily. Hours have passed since you were sitting in your home wondering if any of this was real. You are all getting tired and hungry. You didn’t put on the best shoes because you had no idea how long you would be walking. Your feet are hurting so badly.
After hours upon hours of moving, it seems that you have reached the edge of what once was your home, now turned into a hell.
Someone must have decided to put a divide between the area of fighting and the rest. People are standing on guard at this tall fence. They are armed and hyper-aware of you. As you get closer to them, they look as though they are preparing their firearms to shoot at any moment.
Still, they look safer than the scene you came from.
You reach the fence. The armed soldiers stand their ground on their side while other people are chattering. You know that they are talking about you, but they are speaking so quickly, so overlapped, that you can’t understand a word. They might as well be speaking an entirely different language.
People with you begin to cry. Everyone understands what is happening.
They don’t want to let you in.
They are looking at you as if you are dangerous. You feel more vulnerable and afraid than you have ever felt in your entire life, and they are looking at you as if they fear you.
People on your side of the fence begin begging to get in. Some are pointing at their injuries or their children. You all show that you are unarmed. You feel that it should be obvious that you have nothing but the clothes on your backs.
The people on the other side do not budge.
How could they still be standing there sizing you up? How could they possibly be wondering what to do with you? How could they not see you in the state that you have been reduced to and not have the instinctual knowledge that you simply need their help? Where is their humanity? Why won’t they let you in??
Then, the shouts and chattering and crying becomes quiet in your mind. You become still, and only one thought comes into your head. You don’t want to hear yourself even think it. For the first time in your life, you say the words in your mind,
“I am a refugee.”
You can come back to your reality now.
How did that feel?
Have you ever put yourself in the shoes of a refugee before?
If it were you in their place, and somewhere in this world could offer you safety and the basic necessities to survive, what would you do?
Exercise your empathy.
Let them in.
*A few weeks ago I wrote another article entitled "What You Can Do About The Crisis in Aleppo." Check it out to learn a bit more about the displacement crisis in Syria, and to find a few ways in which you can help refugees and displaced people around the world.
