The boy who moved the world

It’s a testament to the power of a single image.
The photo of toddler Alan Kurdi, lifeless and face down on a beach in Turkey, has resonated around the world.
The photo … graphic, immensely sad, but poignant … had to be shown.
It has spurred the world (except the Harper Conservatives) into action. Everyone wants to do something about the Syrian refugees, estimated to be in the millions. A local group, Prince George Citizens for Syrian Refugee Support, has sprung up. About 40 people showed up Tuesday night, all wanting and willing to do bring at least one Syrian refugee family to Prince George.
So what does that take? Mostly money and know-how. Fortunately, there are people in Prince George who have experience with getting refugees out of troubled countries.
The other part of the equation is money. Apparently it takes about $20,000 to get a family of three to Canada. Given Prince George’s capacity for giving, that shouldn’t be a problem either.
A fundraising campaign will likely get started within a week, so get out your chequebook.
There is still the question of whether the current government will open the doors to more refugees. As it stands, it seems our nation will not be doing any more than it currently is.
Stephen ‘I-want-to-be-Commander-in-Chief’ Harper has used the Syrian refugee crisis as fodder for his continual pushing for more military involvement in the area.
While hardly a compassionate response, Harper, in a roundabout way, is making a point.
The Syrian refugee crisis is a symptom, not a disease. Just as we have to treat the symptom (which the Conservatives don’t want to do), we have to also deal with the disease.
The disease, in this instance, is the civil war in Syria.
I don’t agree with Harper in that bombing the crap out of northern Syria and Iraq is any kind of solution.
We certainly have to deal with the immediate crisis. Canada should employ what most of us feel would be a typically Canadian response … open the doors, even just a little bit.
We have to react more quickly to humanitarian issues. This has been going on for four years, and yet only now have we managed to pull ourselves away from the Blue Jays and hockey pre-season long enough to get angry.
Globally, we have to learn how to stop these types of crises when they start, not try to deal with them when they’re out of control. Part of that could be going after those who arm these trouble areas. It always amazes me that in parts of the world that have no economy and where you can’t get a glass of clean water, you can get an AK-47, rocket launcher, and armoured vehicles.
That is just wrong.
The world is now motivated to deal with the millions of refugees coming out of Syria, as it should and must, but it must also be motivated to prevent refugee crises from emerging in the first place.