So how do you feel about Aylan Kurdi? I'll bet you didn't know that as of April, there were 310,000 dead because of the Syrian civil war. Did you know that 20,000 refugees flow into Germany every day? 'member this? That was 18 months ago. But the right photo, at the right time, and suddenly: Angela Merkel announced that Germany would take 3m refugees per year, indefinitely, and that didn't happen until Aylan Kurdi. We've been treating muslims like shit since the first time Khalid Sheikh Mohammed tried to blow up the WTC (1993 - I'll bet you'd forgotten) and if we've maybe finally gotten to the point where we feel bad about it, I'm glad we could do it over a kid that's still alive. EDIT: I knew that number was wrong. It's 500k refugees per year, which if were equivalent in the US, would be 2m.
That video is heartbreaking. I am going to send it to my Mom. I talked to my her the other night for three hours. She was diving home, from her new traveling nurse job. We got passed the point, where she ran out of things to complain about work. This takes about an hour and a half. After that we start talking about politics, and a miracle happens. "So what is going on with all these refugees? I don't understand it." This was my chance, I couldn't blow it. I try to break down the situation, in a way that she can follow. This is not my strong suit, but she is used to it, and listens until I get to the 1970's. She tells me a few antecedents of cultures clashing in the ER, and the school where she was a nurse. I listen, in return. She asks me to bring in the book I mentioned, Confessions of an Economic Hitman by John Perkins, to her second job that afternoon. She is bored, and lonely for her dogs, at her hotel room. She wants to read some books, before she starts her Nurse Practitioners program. I set up the rapid ereader Spritz on her phone. She thinks of herself very differently, than when we used to clash about politics, growing up. She does science everyday, trying to help figure out what is wrong with people. She respects what I have to say, because I respect her now. I never thought we would see eye to eye. I tried, and it worked for once. She is very professional at work, but more empathy, and understanding could help her patients through the toughest times.
The book has a nice sleuthing pace. I have more success getting people to read it, than most. Factually it is a great explination of how the US stunts democracy, and prosperity everywhere else. The conflicts tend to compound with time. I prefer to read books to the news. The news is too upsetting, and confusing. Books are more rational, and I understand the news better afterwards. If I pay as much attention to the news as I would like, I tend to break.
Yup, but I unschooled her into trying. She told me she didn't really disagree with me, as a kid, just didn't understand. What she was mad about was I treated them like the were stupid. My step dad is kinda slow, and sensitive to that. I was also quite particularly strange.