Those who deny freedom to others, deserve it not for themselves

Abraham Lincoln

I don’t have any personal experience of oppression. I haven’t had my rights denied, been racially abused, or sexually oppressed. I’ve been so lucky in that sense. I was free and able to follow any educational path I wanted. I was free to follow any career I wanted too. I chose the woman I wanted to marry and we picked out a house to buy. We were able to get a 100% mortgage on it and that mortgage was £120 per month at a time when my combined wage was around £650 a month. House prices rose dramatically and I became free financially when that mortgage was finally paid off. 

The freedom I enjoyed is what most couples desire when raising their kids. It doesn’t matter what country you’re from, what background you have, what your other aspirations are, if you are in a close relationship and want to start a family, you’ll need a home and a decent income. When I see pictures of immigrants at borders, trying to get into a country, that’s what they are looking for – the same simple freedoms I enjoyed. Home. Job. Family. Future. It breaks my heart that their own country is so poor or unstable that they can’t get that. 

We have created an unfair system in the West. We built commercial empires, reaping resources from poorer nations, exploiting them for our own gains. We created trading systems that make it impossible for poorer nations to compete fairly. They starve while the grain that can feed them sits in warehouses down the road, waiting to be shipped to the West. Then we berate them when they try to migrate to the lands of wealth and promise. Lands they watch on TV and in movies. Lands of hope. 

I get that countries cannot accommodate huge numbers of migrants. I get that economies are fragile and welfare budgets are already bulging. I even understand people who don’t like foreign cultures. It’s a common instinct to be wary of the unknown, and it happens almost everywhere. 

But I can’t accept people being hateful. I can’t accept cruelty. I can’t accept bigotry. I can’t accept racism. We have immense freedoms here in the West, and we have a duty to help other nations when and where we can. As Lincoln said, those who deny freedom to others, deserve it not for themselves. We should remember that.