An Early Lesson in Accepting Refugees

When I was in fifth grade three new students joined our class.  These were not your typical transfers from another school in Detroit or even kids moving from another city.  The three girls were refugees from Hungary.  I recall the preparation that went into welcoming them.  Our teachers tried to explain the political situation in their country that had forced families to flee their homeland.  While they also had gone through some orientation, I know it was difficult for them, I recall their English as being limited. They also dressed a little differently and ate some strange food at lunch.  Two of the three girls were still in my class by the time we reached seventh grade.  They had become acclimated and it would have been hard to distinguish them from any other student.

I thought of those students in recent days in light of way their home country of Hungary has treated the refugees from Syria and Afghanistan.  In case you missed the evening news, let me refresh you.  It is estimated that half the population of those countries have fled their homelands because of the political upheaval caused by ISIS.  Many of those refugees walked hundreds of miles on foot in search of freedom.  Some of them ended up in Hungary, where they were not welcomed warmly.  The image of thousands of them crowded into underground train stations was disturbing.  Even more troubling, many of them were herded unto trains with the promise that they were heading to Germany, only to be forced off the train and into refugee camps and hour into the trip. Today it was reported that 7,000 of the exiles had arrived in Germany and a similar number in Austria.  Other European countries have committed themselves to accepting more of the refugees.  Countries as far away as Australia, have announced that they too will open their borders to the emigrants.

I guess that is most troubling to me is the lack of compassion on the part of the Hungarian leaders.  It is especially disheartening in light of the political history of that country.  Sixty years ago our nation opened its doors to Hungarian refugees.   Even as grade school students we went out of our way to welcome those who had been misplaced because of political upheaval. 

I cannot help but think, “What would Jesus do?”  Jesus was all about compassion, “On seeing the crowd, he had compassion on them because they were like sheep without a shepherd.” (Mark 6:34)  We are surrounded by immigrants.  They are part of almost every part of our culture.  Many of them have strange accents, or dress differently.  Some of them come from very different religious traditions.  I truly believe we are call to not only accept them but embrace them.  We are called to be Jesus in a very diverse and changing world.