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Universe Within by Gwen Randall-Young
If you are reading this, you are among the Earth's privileged. You are privileged
because you are either sitting in front of a computer, or reading a magazine.
You can read. You may be in the comfort of your home, or perhaps in a coffee shop.
You have food, warmth, shelter and safety. You do not fear persecution, and you
feel at home in your own country.
Like most of us, you probably take all that for granted. But at least 20 million
members of your human family do not have this luxury. They are refugees. A refugee
is, according to the 1951 UN convention on the status of refugees, a person who
"owing to a well-founded fear of being persecuted for reasons of race, religion,
nationality, membership of a particular social group, or political opinion, is
outside the country of his nationality, and is unable to or, owing to such fear,
is unwilling to avail himself of the protection of that country..."
Refugees may be fleeing war or war-related conditions such as famine and ethnic
violence. They may be women who face cruel or inhumane treatment because they
seem to transgress social mores, for example, refusing to wear a chador, desiring
to choose one's own spouse or to live independently. They may be parents fearing
persecution in their country for refusing to inflict genital mutilation on their
daughters. They may also be homosexuals who fear attack or inhumane treatment
due to their sexual orientation. Some are widows, some are orphans, some are injured
or ill, most all are frightened.
Why should we care? We care because the issue is basic human rights. We care because
refugees are part of our human family. We care because we can no longer go on
blithely sipping our lattes and pretending we do not know what is happening in
our world, or thinking it is not our responsibility.
Who should help the mother who seeks asylum as she runs from the rebels who hacked
off her young daughters arms? Can we interrupt our search for designer clothes
to cover our own daughter's arms, or our argument with our teenager who wants
to tattoo her arms, to help the little girl who has no arms? We are blessed with
abundance. We have food. We have clean, fresh water. We have beds to sleep in.
We have access to medical care and education. We want for little or nothing when
it comes to basic needs.
In the Western world, we have so much more than we actually need. It is time for
us to evolve to a level where we are guided by our compassionate hearts. We are
all a part of the same energy system that is our Earth. What happens in one part
of the world affects the whole. The pain of others may ultimately become our pain
in unseen ways, which we would never connect on an intellectual level. The fear
and terror experienced by innocent victims may one day manifest as a different
form of fear or terror in our own lives. I am reminded of Scrooge, in the story
The Christmas Carol, and wonder if we in the affluent world are the modern day
Scrooges, with no time or energy to devote to our devastated fellow men, women
and children.
It is time to set aside some of our ego desires long enough to really find out
where these 20 million suffering souls are, and what we can do to help. Many small
voices together become a chorus. Raising awareness within our families, workplaces,
schools and communities is something anyone can do. Writing letters, encouraging
governments to provide assistance takes little time. Fundraising or gathering
supplies can be a school or community project.
Educating our children is important. Modeling care and compassion, and taking
action on behalf of the suffering is like planting perennials. Our children will
carry on the soulful service we have shown them, as will their children. The dream
of the entire world living as one requires that we do our part to create it. It
is a multi-generational project, but it needs each of us to work to build a strong
foundation. Working together, we can make a difference.
Gwen Randall-Young is a psychotherapist and author of numerous books including
Dancing Soul: The Voice of Spirit Evolving. She can be reached at gwendall@shaw.ca
or her website www.gwen.ca
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