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Myanmar boat refugees - confession


poppy
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I turned on talk radio today and the BBC story was about the terrible situation with the Myanmar boat refugees. And my thought was "bah this again?" One of those shallow , craven, selfish little moments . I think a lot of us have them at some point. I still feel like a wretch. My not wanting to hear about suffering trumped my empathy for women, men and children in a truly terrible situation.

 

So I am going to ask those reading take a second to send prayers and positive thoughts to the refugees. Please. Let's all count our blessings for a moment and hope for peace and safety for those souls.

 

Thank you.

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Their plight is even worse than that of sufferers from other countries because Burma denies citizenship to the Rohingya, leaving them stateless.

 

Prayers needed for sufferers in all countries, on all continents.

 

ETA: . . . and for those on the open seas.

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With all the tragedies unfolding in the world, I find myself often turning away from rather than toward those who are suffering. I found this article last weekend through the Living Unabridged blog (I think the blog author may be a Hive member?), and it was helpful to me:

http://thefederalist.com/2015/05/07/5-ways-to-handle-current-events-fatigue/

 

Maybe it will be to you as well.

 

Edited to fix link--I hope it works now :)

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With all the tragedies unfolding in the world, I find myself often turning away from rather than toward those who are suffering. I found this article last weekend through the Living Unabridged blog (I think the blog author may be a Hive member?), and it was helpful to me: http://thefederalist.com/2015/05/07/5-ways-to-handle-current-events-fatigue/ . Maybe it will be to you as well.

 

Link doesn't work. :(

 

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Several years ago I read Neil Postman's book "Amusing Ourselves to Death". It's about the influx and effects of media in our lives and he had some interesting comments to make about how we process news about tragic events that happen far away from us. He said something like it is stressful to us, but we cannot work through that stress by doing something about it. So we just keep it in. I don't remember everything, and I really should pick up that book again, it was good. But I don't think what you are feeling is unusual.

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Some positive stories about the Rohingya situation (although it doesn't change their second class status in Myanmar)....

 

This Muslim guy is basically selling his possessions so he can buy them back from traffickers for about $200 a person

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-32766919?ocid=socialflow_facebook

 

 

 

The Philippines have announced that they will take some refugees....the Catholic Church supports this.

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/may/19/philippines-offers-refuge-to-desperate-asylum-seekers-trapped-on-boats

 

 

The Turks are trying to intercept and help as well

http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/turkish-military-ship-joins-efforts-to-reach-rohingya-muslims.aspx?pageID=238&nID=82639&NewsCatID=510

 

 

It's a situation that's been going on for years, sadly.  A bunch of people made a big deal about it when Aung San Suu Kyi won the Nobel Peace Prize and got so much acclaim, but never spoke about the situation in her own country or the riots back in 2012.

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I'm ashamed of my country's position on this. Australia, a land of boat people, immigrants and refugees, and one of the wealthiest nations on the planet, can't find any room for these desperate people. Our government is a disgrace

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