God, forgive us for we don't know what we are doing

Years of wars, invasions, air strikes, drones, terrorism and thirst for oil has led to the chaos in the world today. Besides, all this greed has also given birth to the so-called Islamic State who aimlessly butchers people in those troubled regions. In the middle of these wars and brutal terrorism, the people who have nothing to do with anything that's happening, either get brutally killed or worst, get killed by a blunder made by a joystick operator of an unmanned flying object equipped with bombs.  What do you call those...yeah drones! People living in those troubled regions don’t deserve that. They’ve not signed any freedom bond that gives us the right to aerially bomb their regions in the hope of killing terrorists. All they want is a normal peaceful life that most of us in the rest of the world has been blessed with. 

Our “aerial” war against the Islamic State has been going on for years now. But the aerial strategy just doesn't seem to be working. In the bargain, ISIS is getting bloodier and more brutal with more civilian lives lost. And no one has any accountability for these casualties? Logically, when a strategy doesn't work after giving it a shot for years, it’s time to change the strategy. Also, we need the accountability of the number of civilians who have died because of those faulty air strikes. Even their lives are as precious as ours. We may be people with different nationalities, religion, race, and color, but we’ll belong to the same planet. How about that?

Brilliant cartoon depiction by Simon Kneebone

Although we are losing our fight against ISIS, there are so many people from those terrorized states like Syria, Iraq, Afghanistan, and others that have kinda won over terrorism by escaping into safer havens. They sure are risking their lives by trekking those difficult routes in hope of living a normal life, but it’s better to take a risk than to live in hell. Our global coalition is still struggling fighting ISIS, but these civilians have won and we need to do everything that we can to help them and welcome them into safer havens. But instead, we raise up our hands refusing to absorb them into the state as refugees. Why? Where is our heart? Where is our conscience? Where is our soul? Where is the accountability?

The world was sensitized about the refugee crisis only after the photo of a three-year-old kid washed ashore came in public eye.  Everyone was silent about the crisis until the heart-wrenching photo was released. Although that photo is something that shouldn’t have been in public space because of its sensitivity, I’m happy it did, because it sensitized people and got them to force their governments to welcome refugees. And it’s not only Europe’s responsibility to make sure that refugees are given refuge…it’s a global responsibility. And I don’t know why the United States and others are still silent over the biggest humanitarian crisis in the world today. 

There are so many wars going on around the world. Will someone tell us what's happening in Yemen and Ukraine right now? If we continue to be silent about these other current wars happening around the world, it will soon reach boiling point leading to more civilian deaths and more civilians taking treacherous routes to safer havens. History shouldn’t repeat itself, especially at a time when we have made the biggest advancements in technology and science. We have reached the moon, we are exploring Mars and have passed by the last planet in the solar system, but, there’s still no place for people on the only planet that is inhabited by human beings and not aliens. 

Getting emotional and being compassionate is not a weakness. Those are just signs that we are creatures born with a conscience and a heart. And, as this 13-year old Syrian boy, Kinan Masalmeh, so beautifully sums up his countrymen's feelings saying, “The Syrians need help now. Just stop the war. We don’t want to go to Europe. Just stop the war.” See video,