"The Good Die Young"

There’s the everlasting rumour that Canada is the country were nice people live; they don’t fight and they are at peace with every single person on this planet; their politeness doesn’t have an ending. At least that’s the stereotype that’s present in shows like South Park or Family Guy. It wasn’t until some weeks ago that that stereotype has been debunked in all senses in my head. Canada’s government did not allow any war refugees to enter their country. Canada did not allow a small boat with a numerous crew that had among its passengers little 3-year-old Aylan Kurdi. Maybe his name is not quite familiar to you, but I will say that for sure you have seen the following picture:

Picture taken by Nilüfer Demir on the 2nd September, 2015

Yes, that is Aylan Kurdi. The little Kurdish boy that drowned in the sea and was photographed after he washed ashore lifeless. The first time I watched the picture I did not understand it at all. To me, it was just a small boy sleeping on the sand. It was then that I read the different captions below the picture. Still, I did not quite get what the situation was about. The facts that I knew were that there was a war somewhere and that a boy had died because of it. On that specific day, my Facebook page filled with the same picture and many times with some slight changes (wings added, the image drawn instead of photographed, etc). On that specific day, I checked my Facebook page as little as possible. Every time I saw the poor little boy lying there on the beach, something inside of me shattered. I couldn’t stand the sight of such a situation. I really felt horrible; I mean, I didn’t even know that little boy and I still felt terrible at the idea of him being dead.

His family was searching for a place to be safer than their hometown, Kurdistan, which is under an ongoing war not due to its participation in it but because of its proximity to the countries which are actually in war (Syria, Turkey, etc). To be truly honest, I’ve been reading some articles and watching some videos and still I don’t quite get who is fighting who and why. I came across this short video which enlightened me on some basic aspects of this war and I wanted to share it.

I had never been interested in politics and that kind of affairs and I think I’ll never be and there lies my biggest mistake. That family died because of the war; that family died searching for hope; that family died, simply as that. The only one that survived is Aylan’s father, Abdullah. Imagine being a father and in just seconds you lose your wife, and your two little sons. That’s what’s making me despair. The despair he felt; the despair my father could have felt in his position; the despair I could feel in the near future if we are under a war. And my biggest mistake is not becoming involved in those affairs. All people need a voice. All people need to be respected. All people need to be free to speak their minds.

War is not the solution to anything and the Syrian conflict is nothing new nowadays; it has been going for many years. This is because of a “so-called” democratic government. War needs to stop. War REALLY needs to stop. Searching for information I came across a very accurate quote, by Bertrand Russell, I wanted to share.

Innocent people are dying because of war and we are sitting here doing nothing. That is where we, as human beings, can make the change. We need to create a sense of consciousness on the matter to begin making small changes that will lead our world to being a better place for me, for my family, for Argentina, for every country out there, for us human beings, for Aylan Kurdi.