Personal Narrative Essay: Life As A Refugee

Life as a refugee Living as a refugee is a life filled with horror and petrifying situations. A life which I don’t think can be defined as a life, many haven’t lived in years. All they have done have been trying to survive. And in these three paragraphs you will probably figure out that what their life is like, is revolting and gruesome. They live in constant fear of not knowing whether they will survive, or die trying. They flee from a life where bombs drop over their heads, and men rob their homes. But they also leave a life behind, to start a new one.

By force to save themselves and their loved ones, the only choice they have is to leave their home behind. Many families flee as a dozen, but finish as 2 or 3. They lose not only their old life, but everything they have ever worked for; their home, but most importantly they lose themselves. They are no longer seen as whom they once were, they are seen as numbers and defined as political complications. Along an unpredictable road, refugees have to cross over deadly seas and live under outrageously hard conditions. They might be sick, pregnant, wounded by battle scars, shot for no potential reason.

The list could go on and on. They have no guarantee for if they are to ever see freedom and feel safety again. Many get traumatized by the images and experiences of war, and have to live with post-traumatic stress syndrome. A disturbing amount has to live with the grief and sorrow of losing their loved ones, just because of simple disagreements. What an unfair world were living in, isn’t it? Where some live in giant villas and have the most carefree life, others flee from dropping bombs and gunshots every day? Refugees are formed of natural disasters, war, religious conflicts nd uprising groups.

The most current case has been the horrible civil war between the Syrian government and Arab Spring protests. And to just top the already abominable war, the ISIS are destroying villages, torturing children, holding people hostage, and cutting heads of news reporters. The thought of these acts happening as a daily routine, makes most definitely me feel sick. It’s not just the ISIS running about as they will murdering their own people that makes innocent people flee, it’s the fear and hunger which drives them to the breaking point.

Even if we were to stop the massive amount of destruction, bombings and burnings, Syria wouldn’t be the same country as it was before the war. The population of Syria would still be haunted by hunger, wounds and the fear and sorrow that lie as a fog around the country. It would take years of rebuilding broken cities, and Syria would still be as wounded as it is now. There would be millions of people without a home, and with scars so deep that not even the renewed chance of a life would heal them. The ones who do survive have a strict obligation to start a new life as fast as possible.

They don’t have time to sit down, take a deep breath and appreciate that they are alive. They are put in camps where they receive a bed, and if they’re lucky, some new clothes. But the story doesn’t end there. Their journey to a new life is far from over. It will take years before they are received the gift of not being referred to as a “Refugee’. The stares and looks of people who surround you in the street will forever make you rethink yourself. The food you once enjoyed is now something people see as a cultural obstacle.

The clothes you once wore will be made fun of. And the life you once lived is now a foreign memory, maybe for the best? It will take months before you are able to get a job, as well as a comfortable home. But the most challenging part of it all; is overcoming the fear and adapting to a new life. If the world is to be controlled by men with undeserved power and corrupted souls, how can anyone be able to live a life unfenced by conflicts, civil wars and peace protests? In the end we are the only ones who can stop our race from total annihilation.

How will we be able to succeed in this, if all we do is use pain and death as a weapon to get our wished will? I believe that the reason the world is trapped in a swirling black hole of misery, death, war and other ghastly things, is because we are lacking the ability of understanding the differences of the human mind as well as body. We are all distinctive creatures, whether we like it or not. Through the history there hasn’t been a single moment where the world was completely peaceful. Does that mean that there is no hope in us trying to create a world grounded by reconciliation and harmony?