To the woman begging in Target,
I’m sorry for my downward glance, my mumbled “I’m sorry” when you asked me if I could help. At first, I thought you had mistaken me for a staff person even though I lacked the tell-tale red uniform. But when you showed me the hand-written index card saying, “Please help my family…” I immediately understood.
Photo credit: Haefelr on Wikimedia Commons
Trigger Warnings: Child death and disappearance, homelessness, refugees
If you’re regularly on social media or watch TV news, you’ve seen The Picture. The photograph of Aylan Kurdi, the Syrian toddler who drowned while his family was trying to escape their homeland’s civil war. Of course, it was undeniably tragic.
While I normally try to keep up on the news, I avoided that photo at every turn, averting my eyes when it came up in my Facebook or Twitter feeds. It certainly wasn’t because I don’t care about the plight of the Syrian people – I’ve signed many a petition demanding the US Do Something and am a religious contributor to Oxfam’s work.
No, it’s because I care too much.
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