As I see the repeated stories of desperate refugees trying to find some place to live other than Syria, someplace where they don’t face the prospect of being killed or having to kill, I find it heartbreaking. I also find it sadly familiar.

Afghanistan – 1979 to 2015 – 2.6 million refugees
Iraq – 1991 – 1.4 million refugees
Armenia/Azerbaijan – 1992 – 500,000 refugees
Liberia – 1991-1992 – 640,000 refugees
Rwanda – 1994 – 2.3 million refugees
Kosovo – 1999 – 863,000 refugees
Chechnya – 1999-2000 – 325,000 refugees
Syria – 2011-2015 – 4 million refugees

The thing these all have in common is that they are war torn countries. The thing these all have in common is that the US, Russia, China, and other countries supply weapons of war and those get turned on the people.

It is horrible that these nations sell these weapons. And it is completely unfathomable that they then turn their backs on the poor civilians that just want to live in peace. They just want their children to have a chance.

Sadly familiar indeed.

We don’t really have much we can do about other nations. But shame on us. Shame on the United States of America for not opening the door to refugees.