ref·u·gee
ˌrefyo͝oˈjē/
noun
- a person who has been forced to leave their country in order to escape war, persecution, or natural disaster."tens of thousands of refugees fled their homes"
synonyms: émigré, fugitive, exile, displaced person, asylum seeker;
"collecting blankets for the refugees"
There are roughly 10.5 million refugees in the world today, most from Palestine, Syria, Iraq, and Somalia. Emotionally it hurts me more to know that huge numbers of these refugees are children. Imagine how many parents and other care-givers are traveling with these children, each feeling that desperation for the child that only primary care-givers can know. It is overwhelming in a list of so many other overwhelming tragedies in the world that we are aware of due to the instantaneousness of information in the 21st century.
The news is increasingly filling with stories of the politics of rendering (or not rendering) support for the massive number of Syrian refugees. Memes have offensively popped up all over social media sites to help "inform" the masses, leading us astray, while scoring sarcasm points. 
I worry that unless folks develop habits of inquiry, driven by a healthy level of skepticism we fall pray to the one-shot, quick-laugh education of the politically-biased meme. Our knowledge of a thing becomes tempered by the background chatter of social-media culture. How many minutes a day do people check and post on FaceBook? How many minutes a day reading a reliable news source? I would be pleased if I were wrong about my suspicions that the social media feed is on almost constantly for so many for whom the news is sought out only in fixed short parcels of time.
Like so much else we are confronted with in this information age, numbers are used by varying positions to support a stance (bias). The US "only" admitted 172 Syrian refugees in the first three years after the conflict there started in 2011. On the other hand the US admitted nearly 200,000 refugees in those years from other places around the world. Which fact serves the purpose of the reporter? The Washington Post reported that the US admits and permanently resettles more refugees that any other country in the world each year. The key language for that claim lies in the words "permanently resettles". In addition we hear claims that Australia accepts more refugees per capita, or that Germany has pledged to spend 6.5 billion in accepting 800,000 across their border in 2015. Each of these claims are true when taken in the context of the specific language used in each claim. The politics of spin.
Jordan has 1 refugee per 3 native citizen. Australia 1 per 1000. The question I want to learn more about is: How are the refugees (people with real and tragic and scary stories) treated, handled, processed, cared-for in each of their destinations? [Research for later once I post this rant to FaceBook and turn off my social media for a while and read some more news.]
I am impressed with any meaningful assistance offered the disenfranchised of the world, and am saddened by the opportunists who campaign with the stats of this misfortune. Bless Germany for accepting so many refugees on a temporary basis. Bless the US for integrating so many into its multi-ethnic ideals.
The New Colossus
by Emma Lazarus
Not like the brazen giant of Greek fame,
With conquering limbs astride from land to land;
Here at our sea-washed, sunset gates shall stand
A mighty woman with a torch, whose flame
Is the imprisoned lightning, and her name
Mother of Exiles. From her beacon-hand
Glows world-wide welcome; her mild eyes command
The air-bridged harbor that twin cities frame.
"Keep ancient lands, your storied pomp!" cries she
With silent lips. "Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!"
[located in the base of the Statue of Liberty, Ellis Island, NYC, USA]
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