The image of that little Syrian boy on the beach conjured up memories that torment me.Starting in 1971 I interviewed survivors of the Holocaust and their stories were so horrendous that they live with me to this day. Each story was different but the pattern of being hunted with no place to go was ever present.One Viennese Jew told me that he dragged his children through forests,rivers and smuggled them under truck tarpaulins. He said their deaths left him scarred for life ,but what haunted him was their innocent faces looking to him and his wife for answers and assurance.
We are embroiled in a war of words about immigration and I understand the passions but I am reminded that many who wish to come to our shores are desperate, and more than statistics.They are often people who are fleeing a Stalin,Hitler ,Assad or the countless monsters that hunt,harm and kill innocents like that little boy.We may not be able to give them hope or shelter but we owe every man woman and child the respect of valuing them as human beings.
Sal's Reflections 