Refugees

Everyone has a view on migrants and the majority are perfectly valid. I consider myself a migrant because after all I moved to Spain from a foreign country, found employment and now enjoy all the benefits which this country offers. I can still remember as a five-year-old boy sitting in the back of a British-plated car driven by my father coming off the ferry in Palma. It was a new world for me and I can thankfully say that my family and I were welcomed to Majorca with open arms by the resident population. Now, we moved to Majorca in search of a better life away from the grey and gloomy Britain of the 1970s. I would say that the majority of migrants trying to get to Europe at the moment are in search of the same: a better life. I sometimes feel that we are too quick to judge: all they want is our benefits; they think we are a soft touch. These are words which are echoed many times on British television at the moment. They might be right. But I think what is needed at the moment is a sense of compassion as well. In the 1930s Britain welcomed thousands of refugees who were escaping persecution in Hitler´s Germany. Years later, Britain opened its arms to the thousands of people who were desperately trying to flee the Second World War. Britain was the land of the free. Now perhaps I could be accused of taking the issue out of context but to turn our backs on people who are in need is not a decision which can be taken lightly. These people need our help and if it is not provided then we can quietly forget being the cornerstone of democracy and freedom.