A Heart to Rebuild

I was looking at historical pictures from last year and came across pictures of middle east towns that had been demolished by militants. Having been a builder, it is disgusting for all the positive effort of these individuals over the years to be demolished by thugs with ulterior motives. I want to take these refugees by the hand and help them not only overthrow the thugs, but rebuild somehow. It is disgusting when the citizens of any country become so oppressed that they have to escape out of necessity to survive. Granted, there are always people who travel to other countries to take advantage of the opportunities available. Expertise in different areas should be exchanged between countries. We can't equate people escaping oppression with those who are offering their expertise in exchange for wages.

Ideology can either help or be a detriment to helping individuals have a good life. People get stuck on religious or political labels. There are two ways to acquire things in life, work or plunder. People will use deceptive words and work under the auspice of compassion to disguise their actions when they chose to plunder. Work consists of exchanges agreed upon by individuals as having certain value for both sides where both walk away satisfied that the exchange was close enough to equal. The definition of equal is the only area of conflict in these transactions. Someone who plunders wants to skip all the formalities of making agreements and just take what they want without working for it. Some do this through manipulation and others through force. Either way, the transaction is unjust since one party loses their ability to choose through deception or force of arms.

My heart goes out to all those who have to leave their homelands to escape oppression. It seems odd to me that those who have anger about the take over of North America by Europeans wouldn't have a desire to fight for those who are forced from their homes in other countries. There are two things we can observe about the successful rebuilding of the aggressive countries involved in World War II. The foreign enemy was forced to surrender and humiliated to the point where few wanted to support their ideology any more. Second is that armies went into the countries that were devastated, kept order and rebuilt them. They knew well that pulling out before either was completed would have caused a repeat down the road. They cycle of dependency and oppressive regimes needed to be broken. It can take a couple of generations before this can be done completely.

Calling attempts at helping others rebuild, Colonialism, is also a gross misrepresentation of what people are trying to do. One goal is to get people to the point where their transactions can be voluntary among themselves. Let value be set while labor and expertise are given by individuals in a free exchange so everyone can walk away with their families safe and fed.

This seems like a pipe dream in the light of the given situation in the world, but starting out in one middle eastern country was a good idea. I still think the only answer is to occupy to keep order and to help rebuild is the only real answer to refugee situations. We owe this kind of help to the rest of the world. Rather than feeling guilty about wealth to justify confiscating more, maybe we should be using it and our military to give others a good environment to succeed themselves. Once a place is safe, out of work people who have expertise can go over and help. It is this kind of exposure that wins hearts.