An Apology To Alan Kurdi

It would be foolish to blame your death on any one thing, Alan Kurdi. Bashar al-Assad, armies, terrorists, xenophobia, paperwork, media, oil, money, power, that humans can’t breathe underwater. This is why we invented God, Alan. It was the only fair way to take catastrophe out of the passive voice.

But we can look back and see, Alan Kurdi, who was trying to help you and who wasn’t.

For a long time America, for as much as we create problems, we have tried to be part of the solution — it’s a weird thing America does. But overnight, whatever beacon we shined, it blew out. The tumor we’ve always had, it metastasized and now it’s pinching our vision.

This is a phase, Alan. We’re going to come out of it. We’re going to turn on the lights again. The question is how long before we excise this cancer so you don’t keep washing up on beaches. The oxygen of this infection is called Them. That’s what America is sick with, Alan. Them. Because it makes Us feel important.

We once had a president who said terror should never control our lives yet that’s exactly what’s happened. We failed Ronald Reagan, Alan. We have a system of markets in America that encourages people to scare people. But when people run around scared all day, they don’t make good decisions. They get mean.

So I’m sorry, Alan Kurdi. You’re going to have to die again. People can be territorial beasts. Love and kindness is going to win out of course, Alan. It may just take a while before that happens. And again, we’ll look back and see who was trying to help you and who wasn’t.