Why this tweet about Steve Jobs is going viral
This week, Europe and the European Union have been faced with a hard truth, with many leaders finally admitting that the burden of the migrant crisis—which has seen tens of thousands of refugees from Afghanistan, Eritrea, and most notably Syria flooding into the area—must be shouldered by everyone.
After much hemming and hawing, the tide seems to be turning for a variety of reasons. Some have been moved by images of thousands of migrants flooding Greece and Hungary, while others were moved last week by the image of toddler Alan Kurdi, who drowned while crossing the Mediterranean with his family. In fact, it was that image that went on to inspire this now-viral tweet:
Yes, Steve Jobs, the oft-discussed, rarely understood genius behind Apple was the son of a Syrian migrant. His father, Abdulfattah ‘John’ Jandali, was raised in Homs, Syria, the country’s third largest city. It was there that Jobs’ biological mother, Joanne Carole Schieble, became pregnant with Steve, later giving him up for adoption in San Francisco.
The man behind the now-viral tweet, tech entrepreneur and father-of-two David Galbraith told the Chicago Tribune that he was inspired to tweet his message after seeing the images of the 3-year-old Kurdi, who tragically drowned, along with his brother and mother, while trying to cross from Turkey to Greece.
“I could barely look as I have two beautiful young children of my own,” said Galbraith. “It seemed to be that what the most precious thing in the world, a small child, was washed up on the sea shore like a discarded object of no value, when a child with a parent of the same nationality, given opportunity had created the largest company in the entire world.”
And in response to this idea—or any of the other myriad reasons developed countries should open their doors to Syrians and other migrants—change is finally happening. Just yesterday, Germany announced that it would mostly likely accept 800,000 migrants by the end of 2015, with another 500,000 every year after, while European Union president Jean-Claude Juncker called today for member states to accept 160,000 migrants.
“Turning a blind eye to poor and helpless people, that is not Europe,” said President Juncker. “Let us be clear and honest with our often-worried citizens: As long as there is war in Syria and terror in Libya, the refugee crisis will not simply go away.”
(Featured image via Twitter)
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