Lost in Translation
There are military veterans - poorly paid, callously cared for and gravely injured in combat - who have never complained about their country or their circumstances; despite having every right to do so. Now we have foreign residents, temporarily detained in airports or delayed from returning to the U.S. in the comfort of their own homes until their visas can be cleared, claiming to be unjustly inconvenienced and the unmistakable victims of Islamophobia. Considering there have been over 50 Islamic terrorist attacks on American soil since 2001, imagine how many forsaken souls would eagerly reclaim their lives, limbs or their waning health if it meant being briefly inconvienced by the unbearable tyranny of a safety protocol. The inevitable dissatisfaction experienced by a small faction of international guests is a small price to pay for potentially saving the lives of thousands...including their own ungrateful existence. If you're going to cry me a river of mass media victimization, make sure it's a biblical flood of such visceral magnitude that it redefines human suffering rather than engratiating the type of omitted entitlement that involves impatiently eating a sandwich on a sofa while watching TV or posting annoyed emojis on your bored Snapchat selfie. A tragedy and irrefutable act of xenophobia is exactly what transpired on September 11th, 2001. Your momentary inconvenience is our unyielding desire to never again repeat that fateful day. Or perhaps you'd like to see the immortalized images of true depravity or the haunting last words of unspeakable injustice. Unlike yourselves, the grieving families of these marginalized victims will forever be "inconvenienced" by picking up the unidentifiable remains of their lost loved ones. For that, even as a natural born citizen, I would gladly give one year of my life for a fleeting hope to assuage 3,000 lifetimes worth of suffering.
Xavier Keough
