Every single day we see on the news events that are happening throughout the world. Although it is extremely rare that it directly involves are own lives, technology can instantly connect us with what is going on anywhere in the world. I suppose this can be a good or bad thing depending on how you look at it and my best guess is that our overwhelming reaction is something to the effect of, ‘I sure am glad I don’t have to be stuck in or a part of that.’ Not all of us are that lucky though, some people are forced to live in the harsh reality of a broken world.
But what happens when your world suddenly mixes in with the news world?
That is where I found myself a few days ago in Munich, Germany. I had seen the Syrian war and refugee situation on the news and my heart broke thinking about all those poor people stuck in what could be described as a living hell. But that was the extent of it. My heart hurt but it didn’t hit that close to home, it was just the news from thousands of miles away.
Without even realizing it I was suddenly thrown in the middle of the news. I was at Munich at the train station where thousands of Syrians tried to escape to every single day. I was standing just feet away from people who risked everything to try and find safety from a country that betrayed them.
How is it though that two people can stand just feet apart yet the freedom in their lives is so definitively marked that there is no mistaking who is from where?
I could feel tears fill my eyes hidden behind dark sunglasses as we both walked the same path. Them, following police officers taking them away to process who they are and where to put them and me following a tour guide to take me on a tour for the day. Why, why? I see Mothers and children, Fathers forced to be strong for their family and vagabonds with nothing still trying to find something. It just didn’t make sense to me.
As if my world wasn’t intertwined enough with the hardship of these refugees I just so happened to be on my way to tour Dachau, a concentration camp from World War Two that hundreds of thousands called home, with no rights, tortured and ripped of their freedoms.
My heart was bothered all day. Within hours I saw three forms of life. The first being that of the refugees fleeing from their own country, the second being the prisoners stuck in a concentration camp nearly impossible to escape and the last being my own; free.
I’ve always been someone that tends to feel the pain of others as if it was my own. I hurt for others who are hurting. Anyone who knows me knows I have a very sensitive heart, also meaning I am a huge softy. Sometimes this is a curse because I hurt so badly for others that it has an enormous affect on my life but mostly this sensitive side is a blessing in disguise. Instead of sitting idly by watching the madness our world has become, It gives me the ability to realize I have an opportunity to put action into play, helping others in any way I can. I know that most of the time the best gift I can give is through prayer. That’s really all most of us can do.
Although there is such darkness in this refugee situation I did get to see a bright spot shine through. I got to see the Germans open their doors to these people. The government allowing them a safe haven inside a country that knew all too well what it was like to have their freedom stripped; the city opening their doors for people to stay and the people donating food and clothing, but even more so, love.
I know this war won’t be the last one we see, but imagine what our world could be if we would all help each other out just a little bit more. If we could be selfless and love others the way that Jesus loved us.
