The Death of Compassion

I have been quite disturbed over the past few weeks about the debate that is raging due to the Sri Lankan asylum seekers on the Australian Oceanic Viking in Indonesia. The level of opposition to these people finding refuge in Australia has astonished me. I am very disappointed with Kevin Rudd and the government for their response, but it is really a reflection of the prevailing attitudes of the voters of Australia. This was confirmed recently in a Newspoll, which showed that over 50% of Australians thought the government were too soft on asylum seekers. This with the humanitarian debacle aboard the Oceanic Viking being on every media outlet around the country. How can good, generally intelligent and caring people look into the faces of these suffering people on board that ship and want anything other then to extend compassion and help them. As a Christian I am even more disturbed about the attitudes of some of my Christian brothers and sisters who are part of that 50%. Without getting into the politics that muddy this discussion, Australia can support asylum seekers. We can support refugees, in fact we should be taking in far more then we do. Despite this, the argument rages on, thinly disguising the ugly reality of rascism. I have been reading Cornell West recently and some of what he wrote made me reflect on the situation that is occurring with the asylum seekers. We live in a society that is chronically adverse to suffering. We do everything to avoid it by living in an artificial, consumer fairyland that shuts out anything that doesn’t bring us happiness. We take drugs, both prescribed and illicit, not to mention the copious amounts of alcohol we consume, to numb our feelings when things get too intense. We have a culture of instant entertainment that can take us away from our problems in a heart beat. The reality of death is ignored, and any discussion of this topic is avoided at all costs. The truth remains though that we all suffer. It cannot be avoided. Suffering permeates the human condition and to deny its existence or affect is to deny our humanity. Suffering has an interesting side effect, it produces compassion. When we see others suffer we can feel compassion. I experienced this during the bushfires in Victoria earlier this year. People became aware of the suffering of so many and compassion abounded. People wanted to help, to donate food, clothing, money, anything to help. They were doing this for people they didn’t even know or have a link with other then a sense of their suffering. It is these same people who showed amazing generosity that was sparked by compassion who are disgruntled about the asylum seekers. How can we be so compassionate at one point in time and so callous, uncaring and selfish at another. I do not believe that it is just about race, although this plays a part. I think that it has far more to do with the lack of understanding of the level of suffering the asylum seekers experience combined with the hyper-real world in which we live, which encourages us to deny suffering. If Australians truly knew the type of suffering asylum seekers experience on their quest for life, the popular attitude would become one of compassion. The bushfires shook people out of apathy due to the fact that they could see and smell the bush fire smoke, they could see the burnt aftermath. It was concrete. The plight of the asylum seekers is limited to Sri Lankans sitting on a boat with life jackets. This separation from the reality of their suffering is what is killing our compassion. The reality for many asylum seekers who become refugees (according to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees – UNHCR) is that they are fleeing conflict or persecution. They travel enormous distances in dangerous conditions just for the chance of being recognised as a refugee. Then they could be in a refugee camp for months and often years. These are often overcrowded and prone to communicable diseases and infections. I could literally write a thesis on the profound and unimaginable suffering these people experience. I have a daughter and I know that if I lived with the fear of conflict or being persecuted I would want to go to a safe place. I would risk our lives, because our lives were already at risk, for the hope of a better life. I’m sure that as Australians we can understand this and feel compassion for people who are in this position. And by being aware of their suffering and allowing ourselves to feel compassion we can help those people looking to escape conflict and persecution by welcoming them to our beautiful and prosperous country. As Christians, this shouldn’t even be an issue, as we are called to offer shelter to those who have none and refuge for those without a nation. As counter cultural as it may seem, we should embrace the suffering around us to prevent compassion from dying.