Punch in the face

“Why are you here, get out of my country”

I am a young woman who was born and raised in Sweden, but my parents are Hungarian. I have spent a lot of time in Hungary during my childhood. My family and I often travel there to visit our relatives. What really made me upset was something my sister and mum told me, that had happened a few weeks ago. They were on a vacation in Budapest. In the metro station there were a lot of refugees lying on the floor, there was a strong feeling of apathy and hopelessness. The typical image we’ve seen appearing on the media during the past few weeks. If this image wasn’t upsetting enough, my sister said that a lady stopped and started yelling at one of the refugees. She was yelling things like “Get out of my country!” and “Why are you here?!” “Stupid refugees!” My sister and mum were so shocked about how anyone could behave this way, because she was attacking a person who was literally lying on the ground.

Sometimes I get scared of how people can be so mean and cold (like all the right winged parties gaining popularity in Europe…) But I refuse to be anything but optimistic about human beings. Bad news always have a stronger impact than good news. It’s like receiving ten compliments and one insult. You think about the insult more than the compliments. Despite of this, I am determined to believe that people are never evil, they are just uneducated or messed up by the current discourse of the news. Human kind is creative, smart and has a huge ability to solve problems that arise in society. That’s how I see the ‘refugee crisis’. Even though I sometimes feel like punching someone in the face – like that lady.