Thursday, September 29, 2016

At least one person remembers Omran Daqneesh

Last August, 5-year-old Omran Daqneesh became poster boy of the Syrian conflict. A photo of him sitting the the back of an ambulance, stunned, hurt, and covered with dirt, went viral. But news cycles are short, so Omran was quickly forgotten by many, but not by a six-year-old New York boy named Alex. Alex worried about Omran. He wanted to help, so he wrote a letter to President Obama. Here's part of what it said.

                                                                                                            Amnesty International
"Remember the boy who was picked up by an ambulance in Syria? Could you please go get him and bring him to (my home)? Park in the driveway or in the street. We'll be waiting with flags and flowers. We will give him a family and he will be our brother. Catherine, my little sister, will be collecting butterflies and fireflies for him. In my school, I have a friend from Syria named Omar and I will introduce him to Omar. We can all play together. We can teach him English, just like my friend Aoto from Japan. Since he won't bring toys and doesn't have toys, Catherine will share her big blue stripy white bunny. And I will share my bike and teach him how to ride it. I will teach him additions and subtractions in math, and he can smell Catherine's lip gloss which is green. She doesn't let anyone touch it." The President was so impressed by Alex's compassion that he read the letter as part of his speech at the United Nations.

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