Let me start by saying that the efforts of Canadians to reach out and help the Syrian refugees is nothing short of inspirational. Not since the Vietnam ‘boat people’ crisis have Canadians rallied to come to the aid of another group of refugees. At all levels - government, NGO’s, school and multi-faith communities, people are coming together to help, for no other reason that because we can and we should. Its an awe inspiring gesture of compassion in action.
But let me take this one step further, and suggest that I think it represents something even more important, or at least fundamental to our psyches: the need to have meaningful work, or as the Buddha famously put it: right action. When we look around, at least in the western world, we have (for the most part) moved past ideology, mythology, traditional religion, political affiliations, and yet we are starving for meaning. Articles keep appearing in the media about how we all want to simplify our lives, especially around the holiday season, yet are somehow caught up in the wheel like gerbils, running faster and faster. Which begs the question: for what? In the past, beyond mere survival (and I will come back to that) people were inspired, or at least motivated by issues bigger than themselves - religious, political, ideological, whatever. What motivates us now? Yes, one could argue survival, but not in the usual sense. While the cost to just live is getting higher and higher (especially in the GTA), it is not Survival, with a capital ‘S’. Is it consumerism? I certainly hope not.
This brings me back to the Syrian refugee crisis. Images we have all seen of the millions of displaced people and perhaps most poignantly, the terrible image of the drowned toddler on a beach in Turkey, have galvanized our collective attention and compassion to recognize that it is their survival - and I would suggest in some ways our spiritual survival - that has drawn us out of our own little, private lives, to help. They need our help, and we need something real, something human, and certainly something meaningful to inspire us to act in ways that truly matter.
And yet, when this crisis subsides - as it hopefully will - we will continue to need to attend, and act responsibly and compassionately to one another and to our planet. The efforts being made in Paris at the International Climate Change Summit are very encouraging, and I would suggest, represent another dimension in our quest for meaning. But that is for another blog, another day. Stay tuned...