The Syrians at Our Thanksgiving Table!

"Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!"

Quote from Emma Lazarus used for pedestal on the Statue of Liberty

One of my favorite American holidays is Thanksgiving. It’s a day where family and friends all over America gather and share a meal together and in their own way express their gratitude for whatever they are thankful for. Some are thankful for democracy and freedom, some are thankful for having food on their table and some are thankful for good health.

My first Thanksgiving was spend at the house of an American family who had at her table a hodgepodge of people of different races and ethnicity, she was Italian, her husband was Dutch-Indonesian, there was a German, English, Russian an African American, a native American and of course us, Iranians! Bottom-line, we were all Americans gathered around one single table and sharing a meal. One of the things I remember before we partook of our food, was that we went around the room and mentioned one thing we were thankful about and most were thankful for being around that table with their friends and loved ones. I think I was just thankful to have survived my first year in America! Just like the first settlers who came to the United States fleeing persecution and yearning freedom.

Every Thanksgiving I am reminded of that first Thanksgiving where I was introduced to the diversity of America, where America’s unique make up and identity was represented around that table. We were all from different parts of the world and somehow through destiny, through the uncontrollable historical and personal events, we found ourselves becoming citizens of one nation. With all its greatness and shortcomings, America is a place where people from far and near and from all four corners come to seek refuge. America’s strength lies in its ability to open its arms to people who seek a better life and a better future. It is this openness that makes America the great country it is. Its diversity energizes its growth and fuels its ever-advancing progress in creativity and innovation.

As we approach this year’s Thanksgiving my thoughts are with thousands of refugees who are struggling to survive the harsh realities of a life without a country and without a future. There are many amongst us that don't want the Syrians in America. Their opposition not to allow them in is based on fear perhaps based on their forgotten family history that they too came to the US from another part of the world, either fleeing war or economic deprivation.  

They believe that amongst the thousands of Syrian refugees that might come to the US there might be some who will commit act of terrorism on US soil! 

Refugees who come to the US go through special security screening, people don’t just get up and buy a plane ticket and get here. Syrians will go through the same process. Most of them are families, mothers, fathers, children, no place to go…How can we as a nation think of them as terrorist and keep them from our shores? Were all the previous groups that came to our shores seeking refuge… perfect? Let’s not open our nation’s can of worm!!!  

As Americans we should step up to the plate and lead all nations in accepting the most number of Syrian refugees! Because where else would a refugee seek refuge other than a nation founded by refugees? 

The Syrians are culturally diverse and culturally wealthy people who are descendants of an ancient civilization. How can a people who have kept cities bustling for thousands of years be a liability to a young nation such as ours! How can a people with great cuisine, a great sense of style and sophistication and a thirst for knowledge and education not be allowed to find safety and a place to strive in America?  

We are a nation of abundance not only in material wealth and resources but more importantly in compassion.

So this year at our Thanksgiving meal let’s remember the thousands of Syrians fleeing war and violence and pray that by next year we will have a place for them at our Thanksgiving table.