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Montanans Should Help Innocent Victims in Syria

This is something Montanans can be proud of

By Aidan Scallen

Syrian Refugees should not be seen as lost money or potential terrorists, they are people in need and all Montanans should be proud to help in whatever capacity we can.

We are being given the chance to help people and some around us want to back down, but it’s important to consider that if any of us were in the position of the Syrian people, we would want all the help we could get. According to World Vision, there are 4.6 million Syrian refugees currently residing outside of their homeland, and 6.6 million still displaced within Syria. I don’t believe we should or even can take them all, but I know there is enough room for the 10 proposed families in Big Sky Country.

The situation is made worse by the fear of Sharia law being put in place in small towns across the United States, and the fear of people being forced to convert to Islam, all of which are baseless claims made to bring comfort to our inaction. America was once known as the melting pot but now it seems like a stagnant soup of fear and bigotry. What happened to the days when our diversity made us strong? Why must we separate these people in fear of their religion, a religion which our Government is sworn to protect just like any other?

Just as there are bad people in Syria, there are millions more innocent children, men, and women. We owe it to them to protect any that we can in their hour of darkness. This is something Montanans can be proud of when we set aside our differences and embrace those who have lost everything in a five-year-long civil war with no end in sight.

Aidan Scallen
Columbia Falls