4 ms·

Ask HN: For help: drowned migrant photographs

5 points by quietthrow 7y ago

I saw the picture of the drowned migrants in rio grande today and have had a rough afternoon since. I have two daughter and one is of similar age as one of the victims. As a father I almost cried when I saw the drowned 2 year old daughters hand locked around her drowned father. I dunno how to process this and need help and hoping this wise community can give some perspective. I dunno what I am going thru but the most saddening questions come to mind. How bad must be life there that people risk such an out come. Why is is hard for people here to see how bad the situation is. What must be the last moments of this desperate father and daughter been like? After I saw this and walked saw around my office people just working and oblivious to such suffering I could not help but think what kind of world we live in. Why can’t this kind of situation be solved? To distract myself I ask what can I do about this. This leads me to ask the question why can’t immigration be solved globally. Would access to education and remote work within a global market where a global currency is be the answer to this ? Are immigration and such national problems fundamental down sides of the idea of nation which is fundamentally at conflict at diversity (of ideas, people, cultures etc.) May be as nation as idea is fundamentally flawed and smaller but “evolved” tribes where homogeneity thrives but also respect for other tribes to cohabit peacefully are a better answer? What comes after nations anyway. What if there was a no physical country but only virtual tribes which participated in a global market with a global (crypto?) currency. If Elon musk can dream of making humans interplanetary then why can’t people dream of solving global problems that affect humanity? If you made it this far thanks for reading and please help me process this.

dudeinct 7y ago
hey there -- i feel very similarly and felt compelled to add my 2c. i had to choke back tears at my desk after reading about this. i have a daughter and she holds me the same way when i put her to sleep as the little girl in that picture. i am extremely saddened that we live in a world where this kind of thing happens. while i am grateful that we are safe and live in a first world country, that is purely through the luck of being born into that country, and not something most of the world enjoys. i donated a small amount to RAICES, frankly, to alleviate some of the guilt i felt, as I feel somewhat powerless to make a bigger impact than that. i also make small recurring donations to things like the local diaper bank, sunrisas and others, fwiw. anyways, my personal 2c is to make the small impact i can through small monetary donations, try to spread the word about these tragedies via social media, and try to work hard in the future so i have more resources in the future to make a bigger impact. this is just my 2c, but i think we can all make an impact in our own ways, as we all have different circumstances. some can donate time, some money, some actions. imo just spreading the word is powerful, in its own small way.
- quietthrow 7y ago
  Thanks for sharing. I think donations are good way deal with a guilt but I feel more angry ( not at you) at the state of affairs. I dunno why my response is that of anger or something like that.
  - dudeinct 7y ago
    i can only speak from personal experience, but as a parent it is viscerally shocking. i get scared for her safety when my kid walks in a parking lot. for someone to be in a situation like that, with their kid, and for that to happen, it's horrible. it's easy for us to live our lives and not think about things like this. to think about sports, or work, or binge watch netflix, or scroll through social media feeds. but when you see something like this, i think it kind of punches you in the face and for those of us in first world countries, takes us out of the bubble. and we feel angry, and sad. sadly, nothing we can say or do will make a difference for that father and his kid. but i hope i can do my tiny role in making this world a little bit better of a place for the next one, and for my own kid.

5 points by quietthrow 7y ago

dudeinct 7y ago

hey there -- i feel very similarly and felt compelled to add my 2c. i had to choke back tears at my desk after reading about this. i have a daughter and she holds me the same way when i put her to sleep as the little girl in that picture. i am extremely saddened that we live in a world where this kind of thing happens. while i am grateful that we are safe and live in a first world country, that is purely through the luck of being born into that country, and not something most of the world enjoys. i donated a small amount to RAICES, frankly, to alleviate some of the guilt i felt, as I feel somewhat powerless to make a bigger impact than that. i also make small recurring donations to things like the local diaper bank, sunrisas and others, fwiw. anyways, my personal 2c is to make the small impact i can through small monetary donations, try to spread the word about these tragedies via social media, and try to work hard in the future so i have more resources in the future to make a bigger impact. this is just my 2c, but i think we can all make an impact in our own ways, as we all have different circumstances. some can donate time, some money, some actions. imo just spreading the word is powerful, in its own small way.

quietthrow 7y ago
Thanks for sharing. I think donations are good way deal with a guilt but I feel more angry ( not at you) at the state of affairs. I dunno why my response is that of anger or something like that.
- dudeinct 7y ago
  i can only speak from personal experience, but as a parent it is viscerally shocking. i get scared for her safety when my kid walks in a parking lot. for someone to be in a situation like that, with their kid, and for that to happen, it's horrible. it's easy for us to live our lives and not think about things like this. to think about sports, or work, or binge watch netflix, or scroll through social media feeds. but when you see something like this, i think it kind of punches you in the face and for those of us in first world countries, takes us out of the bubble. and we feel angry, and sad. sadly, nothing we can say or do will make a difference for that father and his kid. but i hope i can do my tiny role in making this world a little bit better of a place for the next one, and for my own kid.