You have heard that people in Syria die every day. They might try to pretend that their life is normal but how can you live when the only thing you can hear is the deafening sound of bombs which may fall on your house any minute?
Not only soldiers die, not only men. Not only adults. Bombs and chemical weapons kill soldiers, civilians, women, children, babies. Healthy and ill. Young and old.
Everybody.
You see this news in social media, TV and newspapers. You read it and think it is not fair. That this war should come to an end. You will react with a sad face on Facebook because you can’t do anything more.
Eventually someone had enough. Anna, a Polish woman living in Berlin with her husband and two daughters, the author of a famous travel blog – The Family Without Borders.
Anna, a person engaged in helping the refugees had enough of helpless tears. Enough of all the news about deaths, enough of watching her Syrian friends suffer after having another family member die in one of the attacks.
She came up with a crazy idea.
Anna will organize a civil march from Berlin to Aleppo. A few thousand people with white flags will walk for three months from Germany through Czech Republic, Austria, Slovenia, Croatia, Serbia, Macedonia, Greece, Turkey – to Syria.
The march won’t directly save Aleppo and all other Syrian cities. It is a manifesto against war and suffering of innocent people. The goal is to show solidarity with Syrians, tell them that we do care. The march is also supposed to show politicians that we had enough. That they have to take an immediate action to stop one of the greatest humanitarian crisis of our time.
And I must admit that I have never had so mixed feelings about a social initiative.
Because finally someone is doing something instead of talking and complaining on how helpless we are.
But is it safe?
People die in Syria, lose their hope for a better future. For any future. We need to act as soon as possible.
But what if the participants of final stages of the march put their lives at risk?
We can’t wait here, in our warm and safe houses when children’s hospitals are bombed there.
But it’s so reckless, irresponsible and crazy. If they are able to bomb a hospital for children they certainly won’t hesitate to bomb a group of people with white flags…
Our past proves that many initiatives which seemed hopeless changed the course of history.
But many people died who wouldn’t have died otherwise.
Nobody should die. And people die in Syria every day. We can’t wait any longer.
Only crazy people will go.
Yes. They are crazy but they have their values right. They believe they can change the world.
This march won’t change anything.
And if it does…?
Despite this discussion going on in my head I support the idea of the march whole-heartedly. I don’t know if it’s going to change anything. I don’t know if the marchers walking through Turkey and Syria will manage to come back home safely. I hope. I keep my fingers crossed. If I can manage, I will join them even for one day somewhere here in Germany or Czech Republic. I don’t want to hear more news about soldiers, civilians, women, children, babies killed.
I want everybody to live a normal life, like me and you. Safe, without the deafening sound of bombs which may fall on their houses any minute.
This initiative may push the world to the right direction. Will you participate?
