Refugees

On our way home from the funeral last week we took an early flight out of Abbotsford.  I had plans with girlfriends that night and we were eager to get home from the exhaustion of the happenings of the last few days.  My cousin Syd was on our flight, his second flight ever so Emily was showing him the ropes.  Our dads were anxious that we would make it on time which is a bit funny for anyone who has seen the postage stamp that is the Abbotsford airport.  We had lots of time to play tag in the airport parking lot with Great uncle Garry and Aunty Toby and to eat funeral danishes out of the back of the car.  Once we were through security Emily made fast friends with another boy in the waiting area.  Before we knew it we were at our departure time and we still hadn't boarded.  I had thought about the fog as we had driven through it to get to the airport but there was no mention of delays so I wasn't worried.  Then they got on the intercom and canceled the flight - the pilots couldn't land.

You have to love Canadians for not making a fuss.  We all went back to the ticket area, all of us grateful that the pilots had made the harder but safer choice.  No one was yelling.  Some were stressed about getting to their destinations but were happy with the Westjet employees for their assistance.  Even though we were displaced from our original plans all seemed to be well and I ended up getting Emily and I on the next flight going to Edmonton which my parents and brother were on.  The fog hadn't seemed to abate yet though so I was skeptical that we would actually leave on that flight.  And as we lined up for security the second time my questions were answered - our second flight was also canceled.

Back on the phone with Westjet who was thoroughly apologetic because they knew we were flying for bereavement (not that fog is their fault).  I decided we should fly out of Vancouver and booked an afternoon flight out of Vancouver and so did my dad and my mom rented a car and we drove to the Vancouver airport.  All in all it was pretty easy to do but I was struck by all the people in the airport on their cell phones trying to get home to their safe spaces.  It was striking to hear so much about refugees over the last few weeks and to be stranded with a bunch of Canadians with luggage and altered plans trying to get home or to loved ones.  This is even more striking when I had just said goodbye to one of the most important people in my life who also came to this country as a refugee.

My grandparents on both sides were refugees.  They had been persecuted in Russia for being Mennonite and were conscripted to the war or worked gruelling conscientious objector duty.  My grandmother talked to us as children about how people came and took everything from the farm - they found every sac of flour - they looked in between door jams and took it all.  She watched my son run around with bittersweet happiness remembering that she had been so malnourished that she didn't walk until she was 4.  I remember the stories of the soldiers coming to rape my great aunts and how my grandmothers siblings all held hands to keep them at bay in the middle of the night.  I know the stories of how my Uncle almost didn't make the train to escape Russia with my Oma.  I watched my great aunt shake my whole life for how hard she'd been worked in Siberia.  I heard only a fraction of the stories and I know that they all suffered.  Making it to Canada was always a part of the prayer over an evening meal together - the blessing of security was not lost on them.

I think about that as I watch the Syrian refugee crisis and the Canadian response to it.  We have so much in this beautiful country and most of us came from somewhere else.  Fear is not the appropriate response.  I'm not a political science person but for the people that are afraid that accepting refugees will threaten our national security - don't you think that pouring love into people who have lost everything will return love for our country one hundred fold?  I think most Canadians believe that we can do better and I truly hope that's reflected in how we vote for the country we want moving forward.  I want to be proud of our country again.  Canadians are amazing people and our leadership should reflect that.

So it goes. Returning violence for violence multiplies violence, adding deeper darkness to a night already devoid of stars. Darkness cannot drive out darkness, only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate, only love can do that.” ~Martin Luther King, Jr.