Help For Syria? – Torn

It seems like every time I read the news there is some horrific story about the civil war in Syria. I cannot imagine waking up every day and having to face a war in my own backyard. For the citizens of Syria this tragedy has sadly become their way of life. My heart goes out to the children that are forced to live with so much suffering. I do not know how a parent goes about explaining this to a child. I am grateful that I don’t have to and I am hopeful that I never will.

Amidst it all there are many people that think that someone should intervene. To either assist the rebels with military supplies or to place troops on the ground. As much as I know that many people may not like what I have to say. I cannot in good conscience continue to be silent.

There are similar situations just like the one in Syria going on all over the world, some far worse. Most of them are occurring in Africa and I cannot recall very many of the American media caring too much about them. While the war in Syria is terrible, there are situations in Africa that are far worse, in these conflicts it is more than just a civil war, it is genocide. Rwanda, Somalia, and you can’t forget Sudan. These are situations where several hundred thousand people have been slaughtered and we have done nothing to stop it. We attempted to help Somalia and I’m sure that we can all remember how long that lasted. 45,000 people have died in Syria and yes it is a terrible thing. However, it fails to even begin to scratch the surface of other ongoing conflicts.

Who are we to say who deserves help and who doesn’t? How do we know that we can trust the rebels anymore than the current regime? If the reports of chemical weapons are true, then there is no reason for us to put our men and women risk. Is it really worth having our men and women become victims of chemical warfare? This is not our fight. We already have enough of our own problems to deal with.

I think back to when Afghanistan was fighting for freedom from Russia. Supposedly the CIA was involved with training their troops and helping them defeat the Russians. Look at where that got us. Does the name Osama Bin Laden ring a bell?

How do we know that the same thing won’t happen in this situation? How do we know that it won’t come back to bite us like it did before? Why do we feel like it is our job to intervene in Syria but not in other situations that are far worse? It is not right for us to pick and choose whom we want to help. It is unfair, to say the very least.  It is wrong for to say that this countries citizens deserves to suffer but another countries citizens don’t. We are all human beings. We all feel the same pain. We all cry the same tears. The value of human life is equal on all parts. If we cannot help our own people we have no right to go to another country and help theirs.