This week is ‘Refugee Week’, and at King’s High School, we have been creating messages of support in solidarity with the plight of refugees around the world and the struggles that are faced. The theme of 2022 is ‘healing’ and invites us to consider the question of how one can begin the process of healing in a world that may feel broken. It is a significant question sadly faced by millions of refugees.
The easiest response to arrive at from the perspective of personal wellbeing is that we ought to feel grateful for our own comparatively safe circumstances as others are in far more difficult situations. On the most obvious surface, that is of course true; we should identify where we feel gratitude within our lives as it is well-documented to be a significant factor in increasing our sense of wellness and perspective.
However, maybe a more broadly human and empathetic response is to consider that everyone has struggles to face in life, and just as we hope to be helped through our struggles by love, kindness and compassion, we have a responsibility to offer the same to all humans in their time of need. The most important thing we can offer is our sense of humanity – a human act of kindness, no matter how seemingly small, is important for any healing process to begin.
