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Looking outside the bubble

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Jocelyn Doll

I read an article the other day called “We are watching Aleppo burn in real time and just like in Bosnia and Rwanda, we do nothing.”

It was a sentiment I had been avoiding thinking about, but since seeing the videos and tweets from the people in Aleppo – who were saying goodbye or calling people to action – that accusation has been rattling around, and this headline said it like it is.

These moments of crisis make me want to fly to the other side of the world and join the relief effort, or strap on a pair of boots and join the Canadian military or even get involved in politics. I want to protect the innocent people that are being murdered, I want to change the system and make sure it doesn’t happen again, but I can’t.

The military and politics are long term plans, and having an untrained english speaking person on the ground in a crisis zone wouldn’t help anyone. I can’t even donate money to the organizations that are making a difference.

So what on earth can I do? It seems like there isn’t anything, but that is where this problem all started in the first place, the world didn’t do anything.

You, me, pretty much everyone, we didn’t do anything. I am sitting here, at my desk, eating a sandwich that I bought for lunch, and children in Aleppo are being murdered for no reason, at this very moment.

Had I given up my Subway sandwich once a week and made a monthly donation to an aid organization would that have helped? What if we all did that?

If I had set up a protest in Spirit Square calling on the Canadian Government to do something for the people in Syria, or written a letter to the same end would that have helped? What if everyone did that? What if every city did that? Would that make a difference?

The crisis in Syria is hard to understand. There is no clear good guys and bad guys because both sides have killed innocent people.

And the politics! A whirlwind of not interfering, supporting the UN, not supporting the UN, getting hands dirty and holding at arms length.

It is too much to understand. Honestly, I feel for the politicians that have to make decisions about how to deal with the situation. They have to balance their obligations on the world stage, with the safety and well being of the people they govern over as well as taking into consideration what those people actually want. And of course the masses don’t agree. What a job it would be. But I don’t think inaction is the answer.

At the end of the day innocent people are being killed and I think the world should be helping them. Maybe they are, maybe I am missing an integral piece of the puzzle and efforts to help go far beyond my understanding but maybe not.

The last I read is that there are evacuation efforts in process.

So I guess there is something we can do, we can donate money to aid organizations who are going to be caring for those evacuees and we can prepare to act for the next time something like this happens.

How? I don’t really know, but there must be something we can do.

There are, after all, billions of us.