Physicians for Human Rights photo
A young girl whose life of normalcy was destroyed by world events over which she had no control sat in hiding, fearing for her life. There was no Twitter or Facebook to hear her cries. She wrote words in a diary recounting her frightening experiences and struggles to remain hopeful on the edge of terror. Her name was Anne Frank and she lived in Amsterdam, Holland in the 1940s. She and her family remained hidden behind a bookcase wall for two years trying to avoid capture by the Nazis. Anne and the rest of her family were eventually found and thrown in a concentration camp where all but her father died. Their crime was their faith. They were Jewish.
The world waited too long to save the millions who perished in those camps over 70 years ago. The world has repeatedly waited and watched too long as genocide and the mass slaughtering of people has taken place in different parts of the world. Rwanda. Bosnia. Darfur.
And now Syria.
The world once again, including the United States and our allies, appears to be paralyzed as the horror continues. Fear of getting immersed in another war has left the human cries for help unanswered, and the millions who have fled afraid for their future. As President Barack Obama leaves office, the red line he drew for this Syrian war and its use of chemical weapons has been crossed and blown to the wind. Obama threatened force, but chose otherwise. The reluctance to forcefully confront Bashar al-Assad and his Russian and Iranian backers overwhelms.
Aleppo, once Syria's largest city, is now a place of ruins. Children, so many of whom have been orphaned, are trapped in what was once their home along with remnants of scattered families. It is unimaginable not to think back to the Holocaust and its victims. A dictator is once again using his power in an attempt to succeed in the mass destruction of his people
Syrians have been left no option but to seek refuge in foreign lands. Yet their numbers are so great that the countries whose shores initially welcomed them, now feel burdened. As global politics become increasingly involved, their futures continue to be problematic. For Syrian Muslims, the doors are beginning to close.
The role of the United States remains questionable. President-elect Donald Trump assumes office having pledged to ban those of the Muslim faith. His attraction to Russia makes the future of Syria even more ominous, and the lives of millions of refugees more uncertain.
The cries for help continue. Enough. The slaughter of human beings should not be tolerated. It goes against the very basis of humanity and the need to survive.