Along with several other millions, I follow Humans of New York on Facebook. They always manage to share the stories that should be shared, and right now is no exception. They have turned their focus to the refugee crisis throughout Europe, and although heartbreaking, these are stories that need to be told and heard and acted upon.

One reader’s comment summed it up beautifully:

“When I read about the Holocaust and the terrible things that happened to people I always wonder what was the rest of the world doing then?  We are the rest of the world right now. What are we doing?” (Syma Khan via Facebook).

So, what are we doing? What are you doing? What am I doing? Are we discussing? Are we reflecting? Are our actions putting humanity first?

As educators, what are we doing? Are we truly raising global citizens or are we buried in the daily stresses of safe and secure classroom life so much so that tragic times such as this can’t be squeezed into our daily class schedules? How can we expect our students to do better for their future if they are not educated about the issues we are faced with today?

I feel that even though we can’t possibly hope to have an answer to solve this problem, discussing it is necessary to demonstrate the importance that everyone around the globe is playing a role in the refugee crisis. We are either actively viewing, reflecting and contributing how we can or we are actively convincing ourselves this is someone else’s problem.

I know what type of citizens I would like my students to grow up to become.

Happy teaching.

(Thanks to Alana Besley for sharing the link)