Day 136

Here and there.

While I am busy thinking about the kind of work that is more suitable for me in the future,

while I am making comparison of cities for me to live in,

while I am looking at Fall 2015 catalogues for more up-to-date clothing pieces,

while I am craving for desserts and snacks,

while I am wondering if my crush has mutual feelings for me,

while I am updating my bucket list with some potential adventures,

while I am looking for an exciting movie to fill my spare time,

while I am searching for new songs to keep me company all night,

. . .hundred thousand Syrians are fleeing the Middle East and Africa to Europe in search of hope, opportunity and safety; 11 millions have been displaced by more than four years of war.

We are getting numb to what is not normal in this world—poverty, injustice, sickness, affairs, abuse, wars, conflict. . . It is tragic. It is heartbreaking. It is out of control, humanly speaking. Thinking about this tragedy won't help solve their problems, neither will writing about it here.

Yet, in the midst of gruesome news all over the media, I found one story that makes room for hope:

Thousands of Iceland’s residents have taken to social media to put pressure on their government to take in more migrants. The island nation has already said it will take in 50 migrants, but officials said on Tuesday that the country would consider raising that number. The group said some of its members have offered to open their houses to migrants and others have volunteered to donate money, clothes, furniture and other items, or to help the new arrivals assimilate.

The Facebook page also said: “Refugees are our future spouses, best friends, our next soul mate, the drummer in our children’s band, our next colleague, Miss Iceland 2022, the carpenter who finally fixes our bathroom, the chef in the cafeteria, the fireman, the hacker and the television host. People who we’ll never be able to say to: ‘Your life is worth less than mine.’ “Open the gates.”

In the current refugee crisis, some citizens have offered rooms in their homes, or suggested housing migrants in a former army base. “It is evident that it is immoral to have it standing empty while people are dying,” one Icelander, Oli Gneisti Soleyjarson, wrote in a Facebook comment.
— The New York Times (2015)

Brandon Stanton (Humans of New York) once wrote, "if we are afraid of each other, we'll never be able to work together to solve our common problems". The people of Iceland have shown their fearlessness to reach out to the homeless and the helpless. When is our turn?

Jesus said, "blessed are those who mourn", for they pay attention enough to God's story, therefore they could see this 'gap'.