A few hours ago, my Norwegian friend asked me, “Have you read the letter?” I had no idea what he was talking about and I’m not sure I was ready for it.
A young woman reached out to a Croatian friend of ours this morning:
Good morning, ____. How are you? I just want to ask helping. Maybe u heard something about Afrin city in North syria. This is my city. And my family still there. Turkey want to kill everything and every one. And says that there is terrorist there. They are a civil people. 1 million people now is out of her home. No one helps. And Europe just watching. I am dying here and feel so helpless. Plz Reis our voice somewhere. I just don’t know how I can help. And I couldn’t write in our group because of our turkey friends. What should I do?
I got pissed. How the hell is this still happening. Why is this happening. I searched the web for current news stories about Afrin. I darted to Wikipedia to try to understand the Kurdish-Turkish conflict. This conflict has been happening for years upon years and recently it has become quite deadly.
Underneath that anger I feel a deep well of pain. People are dying. In the streets. In their homes. And here is a woman who was lucky enough to get to Germany, and yet feels the pain for so many back home. Her friends, her family, and most of what she has known. What do we tell her to do? I feel broken. I feel helpless.
Share her story. Share her pain. Show the world that people are hurting. Stand up for the humanity of those who are being attacked. Stand up for the humanity of those who are attacking. Stay in the fight. Don’t run away and don’t escalate. Stand strong, together. Admit your fears, take a deep breath, and go forward anyway. Forgive. Apologize. Show the world what real strength looks like: showing our pain when we feel it the most.
Young woman, I don’t know you and yet I believe in you. You bring tears to my eyes and strength to my heart. Show us, the world, the power of a strong, loving person. You are showing us a world that so many of us want and so few of us have. We need you. And you’re already doing it. By sharing your story with us, you have started a small and mighty wave.