We're willing to do things to help others - send money to migrant relief foundations, for example -- but not a lot, and not often. The pool of our compassion can be deep, but it refills slowly.
But when helping affects us -- when it is possible that one of a hundred refugees clamoring for entry into our country is in fact a terrorist who might hurt us -- then the immediate question is our safety. Those others -- well, they were poor and likely to die anyway. And even if we're pretty sure that they are as they seem, our resources get drained quickly. And somehow that country's problem, which we can easily live with, becomes our country's problem. Thats not something we can handle. We feel aggrieved.
Its been a long time since we offered to house those yearning to breathe free. Somehow, its a lot more dangerous these days.
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