The case of refugee influx

What you need to know:

  • IMMIGRATION. migrating to other parts of the world with the intention of getting greener pastures is increasing the refugee numbers.

Sometimes, you hear stories that leave you wondering if they are true or simply made up, in the mind of the storyteller. A friend shared with us that in a certain overpopulated country in the world, people are so desperate to find jobs that casual labour. They sit next to high rise buildings that are under construction waiting to be called to work. However, the opportunity does not often manifest, except when one of the workers falls from the high-rise and dies.
This very disturbing scenario is so sinister that it has not left my mind since I heard it. Not to find one’s daily bread, though still very common in our world today, is already sad, but having to sit waiting for someone to die to replace them is indeed tragic.

Refugee influx
The just concluded World Refugee Day, has even brought worse news. There are now over 65million people who have been displaced because of war and prosecution, one third of them is now considered refugees, over five million from Syria alone, and South Sudan getting a big share of 1.4 million displaced people.
The job markets in most countries, including Europe where millions are fleeing too, is already in a bad state and saturated. So, where will all these new arrivals work? In some countries where labour laws are not very strict, some migrants have found jobs, albeit illegal, they carry out the same amount of work, or even more, for less pay and the employer does not have to pay their medical insurance, overtime or any other dues. This sounds good for the employer but very bad for both the worker and for the locals who have been waiting for their chance to get a job.

Spiritual take
We often wonder how to strike a balance between our needs and other people’s needs, in a massage dated March 1, 2017 the Universal House of Justice, the leaders of the Baha’is in the world sent a message that touches on this very crucial point, this is a part of the letter:
“The welfare of any segment of humanity is inextricably bound up with the welfare of the whole. Humanity’s collective life suffers when any one group thinks of its own well-being in isolation from that of its neighbours, or pursues economic gain without regard for how the natural environment, which provides sustenance for all, is affected. A stubborn obstruction, then, stands in the way of meaningful social progress: time and again, avarice and self-interest prevail at the expense of the common good.”

Solutions
And maybe some answers are found within these lines from the same letter:
“The forces of materialism promote a quite contrary line of thinking: that happiness comes from constant acquisition, that the more one has the better, that worry for the environment is for another day. These seductive messages fuel an increasingly entrenched sense of personal entitlement, which uses the language of justice and rights to disguise self-interest. Indifference to the hardship experienced by others becomes commonplace while entertainment and distracting amusements are voraciously consumed.”