The Limits of Good Intentions

For my VR experience, I chose to watch the BBC’s video on the state of refugee migration from North Africa across the Mediterranean to Italy. The film crew boarded a ship operated by a French charitable organization which locates and rescues migrants attempting to reach Europe to document one particular mission. Watching the events which transpired, what struck me most was the perspective and determination of the volunteers in charge of the mission. The crew worked tirelessly to safely get dozens and dozens of marooned refugees onto the ship, and made sure each individual was taken care of and in good physical condition. Still, those in need outnumbered the volunteers by at least ten to one, and one particular crew member commented on the fruitlessness of their efforts, on a larger scale. “We aren’t part of the problem,” the man said, “but we aren’t part of the solution neither.”

This blunt frustration, coming from someone who has sacrificed so much and worked so hard to address a problem, is truly heartbreaking to see. No matter how many kind-hearted, selfless people there are, people who have made it their duty to patrol the Mediterranean to assist those in need, they will always be outnumbered by the needy. This dire truth will always be present, at least as long as there are people in positions of authority and influence who have the desire, the means, and the leeway to force human beings to flee their homes. We turn to our national and international governing bodies, which are conscious of this imbalance, expecting to see measures being taken to address it. Instead, no action, save for the indictment of the very people who are the victims of the abuses we don’t have the capacity to confront. How can we ever hope to address the circumstances which are causing the migration of refugees if we can’t even seem to agree that the displaced should be accepted into our lives and provided for in the first place?

It would be easy to despair in the face of this stagnation. But despair won’t get anything done. So, if we can’t depend on the basic goodness of those who have the power to affect change, we should, and must admire the basic goodness of those who are desperate to affect change, but don’t yet have the necessary power. Perhaps, if we continue to praise and support their efforts, they will gain the attention, and therefore power, they need to make a difference.