REFUGEES: Letter reflects absence of compassion

Re: “Don’t allow any Muslims into the US” (letter, 9-15).

Albert Speer, who served 30 years for his participation in the evil-doings of the Third Reich, offered inadequate education as an explanation for his and his country’s behavior. We do not teach international awareness or sensitivity in our schools.

The letter writer branding Syrian refugees as “dangerous Muslims” reflects the most calloused kind of ignorance. These refugees are, by and large, simple people, and above all, desperate people. Does anyone seriously think that they would feel anything other than intense gratitude for being rescued from chaos and deprivation?

I can’t imagine any of them, after arriving to safety and security, spouting some political or religious views. Most of them are victims and, I suspect, nonpolitical.

I feel helpless other than to express how badly I feel when I read such views as the one expressed in this letter that fail, even in the tiniest sense, to have compassion for one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises.

This story was originally published September 16, 2015 at 10:06 AM with the headline "REFUGEES: Letter reflects absence of compassion."