Let's Chat Over Tea
Please. Join me for a proper cuppa tea. I'll pour for you. Would you like cream or sugar? We have Danish butter biscuits, as I didn't have time to bake any crumpets. ;) [/joke]
I realize I'm doing this the wrong way, by having tea after dinner instead of beforehand. My British friends would say, "Leave it to an American to bugger our tradition." Ah, well. If I had tea first, I wouldn't want my supper! I could postpone supper, but I'm not accustomed to eating late into the evening. Shouldn't; anyway. It's bad for one's figure.
Anyway, enough of that! How has your day been? Did it go smoothly? Did you do anything fun? Mine was occupied by running sons to college and studying for my own course. I'm currently working on Ethical Situations in Business, and I'm to my last assessment: a 5-7 page paper in which I develop an ethics program for a company that doesn't have one. I have to start from scratch, including setting the standards/procedures, training the employees, implementing the program, and auditing it to make sure it's running properly. Not a small task, that's for sure. I used the assessment requirements to get an outline, and now I'm fine tuning that before I begin writing the actual paper.
Speaking of ethics, have you been following the troubled Syrian refugees? I feel so badly for them. Their own country is a disaster, and people who could help them are slamming their doors in the refugees' faces, so to speak. Do these countries have an obligation to help the refugees? No. Of course not. Do they have an ethical and social responsibility to help them? Yes, I believe so. This is a human rights issue. These folks left the terror of an evil dictator and have nothing to speak of in the way of basic human rights: no clean water, no food, no shelter, no privacy, nothing. I understand leaders not wanting the burden of unwanted foreigners on their economies, but I wish these leaders would stop and think about how it would feel to experience this kind of desperation. My husband and I have been through some very bad times, even to the point of having no money to make it through the month, but we've always scraped up just enough money to keep the house, some food, and the power. We live in a country where freedoms are protected. It is mind-boggling to think about all that being taken away. That's exactly what these poor people are going through now. They aren't even human in the eyes of their dictator. That's incredibly brutal and horrible.
So why can't common sense prevail here? If leaders don't want refugees to stay in their country, fine. They weren't looking to stay in some of these countries; only to travel through to countries that will welcome them. So why not open one portion of the border and stake out one road they can use to cross? No offer of provisions or shelter....just a path through the country that's guarded by the military so these folks can get to a refugee-friendly country like Germany. This is the cheapest option with the least effort that Hungary or Greece could choose, and it would be much better than shutting people out and letting them suffer in unfriendly territory where they're in danger of starvation or being killed.
It's like the situation with America's border with Mexico. I have been saying it for years, and our blowhard friend, Mr. Trump, has said it as well. Build the wall, open a port that's manned by US officials--I would say two or three ports since we have so many migrants coming in--and let the migrants come in through those points. Give them a temporary visa at the point of entry so they can be tracked. This way, they are still allowed to come to our country, we stem the tide of undocumented illegals in our country, and jobs are created for Americans desperate for work. It's a win-win for everyone. What is so hard about that? It's common sense!! I would vote for that solution in a heartbeat because it makes sense. We don't have to be coldhearted and rude by slamming people out. We don't have to be pushovers, letting them come in and drain our economy. We can make it work for both sides, and we should be trying a lot harder. I have a real issue with most of the fat cats in our goverment who take their pay without actually agreeing on anything or getting anything done. But that's another soapbox for another day.
So that's what's been on my mind today. I suppose I'd better wash up my tea dishes and get back to my essay. Chatting over tea and watching baseball is much more fun. What's that you say? Yeah, I know. Neither of those things will earn me a good grade. You're right.
Well, so long for now. Thanks for having tea with me. I'm going back to work. :)