Today is a day of joy, dance and laughter in Greece … It’s the Carnival Sunday, the day that marks the end of carnival season and the beginning of a 40 Day fasting period for the Greek Orthodox Christians until Easter –the day that celebrates love and hope for life.
And today that very special day began for the people of Lesbos with the following news:
Lesvos: Headless body of missing 9 year old refugee girl washed ashore
And this comes only two days after another horrible incident took place east of Samos. Another boat had capsized and sank, and two little children, two twin brothers, had died. A couple of hours later their father was found dead too.
I think about all these tragedies and my head hurts.
I think about the last moments of this father who would fight desperately to save his little boys and did not succeed. I think of the mother, who if she has survived, how she is going to cope with all this loss.
I think about the parents of the little girl who after weeks of anguish, so much pain comes to break their hearts now. How will they go on with their lives after the horrible death of their child? How will they have to live day after day without hearing their angel calling them “mom” and “dad”, without watching her playing, laughing, crying, growing up.
The truth is that there is no greater pain for a parent … I am a mother and I know … I wouldn’t be able to stand this pain!
And I think of all the other mothers like myself, who live in peace in Europe and have their children close to them, safe and happy. What do they think when they hear or read on the news about drowned children, washed up on the shores of the Greek islands? What do they say to their own children about all this? That “these are just illegal refugees“, whose „parents are to be blamed for putting them in the boats to make such a dangerous journey”, and „they should have stayed in their countries“…?
How do these mothers perceive the risk of death some of our fellow human beings have to take, to escape from death, violence, hunger, devastation happening in their countries, when they have no other option?
I think of about all this and I am ashamed…
I am ashamed because I was born and raised in a country and a continent where we all more or less know what it means to flee wars and violence, and now in these critical moments of human history, we forget our past and turn our backs on our downtrodden fellowmen. I am ashamed of the horrors caused by the indifference, ignorance and hostility of my fellow European citizens.
And this shame can not be washed away, even if some of us mourn the thousands of lives lost because they seem redundant due to political and economic games. This shame can not be washed away, even if we shed tears in pain for the thousands of drowned children sacrificed to the murderous immigration system established in Europe.
Personally I can not stand all this shame anymore caused by the monstrosity and meanness gathered around me. How about you?
Vassia
#opentheborders #humanity #refugeeswelcome