The horror of the terrorist attacks in Paris was bad enough. The extreme reactionary responses by some (politicians, pundits, and ordinary people) nearly put me over the edge. And so I posted an experience (below) on Facebook. In the broader landscape of social media, the post was hardly a blip -- but for me, personally, the response rekindled my hope.
This is why: the 60+ "likes" represented individuals across the religious, political, economic, and educational spectrum. Within that group there were fans of Glenn Beck to Bernie Sanders, agnostics to devoutly religious, Catholics, Baptists, Mormons, PhDs and GEDs. And yet it seemed to me that we all resonated with the impulse to take higher ground.
What's next? What are we willing to do to help shape the discourse around refugees? I believe this humanitarian crisis is not fundamentally a partisan issue, though there are those who would make it one. Though details and policy will and should be debated, can we agree to take one issue off the table now and forever?
We will not accept the false logic and morally bankrupt assumption that condemns Middle Eastern refugees for these or other terrorist attacks. We will not punish millions of suffering and displaced humans for the cowardly, violent acts of a few.
As president of the European Commission, Jean-Claude Juncker put it, "Those who organized, who perpetrated the attacks are the very same people who the refugees are fleeing and not the opposite." Instead, we will take higher ground and stand with those who know all-too-well what it is like to be caught in the firestorm of civil war, extremism, random acts of violence, and hopelessness. Maintaining national security and wise compassion that includes opening our doors to refugees are not mutually exclusive propositions.
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