What is the purpose of all this suffering?

A friend sent this to me yesterday and I can't get the horrified expression of this little boy out of my mind.

Humanity now is a relative term lost in the confusion of nationalism and xenophobia — it no longer exists.

For many, when they calculate human life in dollar term it just makes no economic sense to feel his pain, his suffering, because he’s just not their son.

What happened to us? Well, not all of us. Some of us would swim an ocean to save this little boy.

It takes a lot to risk everything...

Our ancestors who crossed the oceans to get here because of potato famines, religious persecution, warfare, and terror at home, etc. are long dead. It seems many who are now well fed, comfortable and surrounded by possessions and modern conveniences now fail to understand the sacrifices of their own ancestors and have no empathy for others who now must make similar journeys.

When staying is seen as more dangerous than leaving, when people are afraid, hungry and in need, they try to meet those needs for their children and I will not fault them for it. I will fault those who pretend to be Christian and seek to punish asylum seekers, turn them away and refuse to take their documents, and then brutalize them and separate mothers and fathers from their children.

This feels like a nightmare that never ends.