A conversation with my brother about the waves of refugees from the war zones coming into Germany

[Mira]

Just talked to my brother, who lives in Karlsruhe, a beautiful large old city near the French Border.
He made a casual comment about the refugees from Syria and the middle Eastern war zones and I then asked a few questions until I could hear no more:

I learned that there are about 1 million refugees being absorbed into the country (realize, Germany is about the size of NC and SC combined, actually I think smaller)

that most of them are men and unaccompanied children

that they intend to bring their families together once they are established somewhere, and that the tally from those already in the country could therefore swell to 3-5 million total

that Germany is thinking of taking into eminent domain unoccupied buildings to house them

that at his daughter’s school there are three classrooms already set up for refugee children

that many are living in tent cities

that his wife goes and cooks in a soup kitchen for them twice a week, and so does his 15 year old son

He says that the population in general has empathy and is trying to incorporate and help, but many are saying it would be cheaper and more appropriate to put them on airplanes and send them to the country that started the destabilization of the Middle East in the first place, which is also a country with wide open plains that once said: Give me your tired…..

I googled the exact quote:

“Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed, to me:
I lift my lamp beside the golden door.”

Emma Lazarus