Hope haters are never in position like Venezuelans

THE EDITOR: I honestly can’t help but feel for the Venezuelans recently arrived in our country. A lot of us have family and friends with roots in Venezuela including many of you reading this letter.

Scenes of thousands of people waiting to be registered are heartbreaking to say the least. There will be good and bad, but turning a blind eye and pretending this situation is not happening is not an option. We owe it to ourselves to understand the scale of this problem in order to develop a plan going forward.

Our Government, even though late and somewhat sloppy in handing the registration process, should be commended for finally recognising that this refugee situation actually exists.

Sure, it’s all very scary, but at the same time I think it is an opportunity for our country to use its skills and burning desire to work as a plus for our ailing economy.

Watching the many photos and videos that have been publicised by the newspapers and other media outlets is like watching the world news right before our eyes. Feelings of shock, horror, sadness, grief all enter our minds and bodies.

And to all the haters out there, I hope you never find yourselves in a situation where you are so desperate that you are forced to leave everything behind, including family and friends, in order to start a new life in a foreign country with a foreign language and faced with hostile foreigners.

The xenophobic comments on social media are disheartening and shameful.

STEVEN VALDEZ via e-mail