I used to think that Europe shouldn't let in more refugees and that we should primarily focus on providing aid to the immediate area around Syra, but I have since changed my mind entirely.

Why? People need to understand that Lebanon, Turkey and other areas in the close vicinity of Syria are being pulled down by the weight of the refugees. For instance, Lebanon has approximately 1,5 million refugees with a population of 4,5 million. Giving aid in these regions is great, but we do not know how long the crisis in Syria will last; it might even be indefinitely if ISIS maintains a stronghold. These people need new long-term alternatives to live, work and to receive education for their kids, not to mention that the security in the refugee camps is appalling. This cannot be achieved if they are all gathered as they currently are; long-term extreme poverty and ghettofication will be the result.

Obviously, if we want to help the refugees, primarily giving aid isn't the right choice, even if that's necessary as well. The best alternative is to evenly spread out the refugees in as many countries as possible. It is better to give them the long-term support that they need in this way, to get away from the depressive atmosphere of the cramped shelters around Syria and to feel that they can start new lives; perhaps one day some or many of them will return to their homeland once the situation has stabilized. In these new countries, they can work, have safety for themselves and their children and know that health and educational needs can be taken care of properly. It is a fact that these needs are easier to accomodate, with higher quality, if individual countries can put them in smaller local areas than if we are forced to help them enmasse in the mass-shelters around the troubled regions.

Some people might say that we will suffer as a result of taking in that many people. But the thing is, nobody has said that it shouldn't hurt. Lebanon, for instance, is being crushed from the weight of aiding the refugees—why should they suffer for their altruism while we live in comfort? I would say that we have a moral obligation as human beings to accomodate as many refugees as possible, hopefully spread out across as many European countries as possible, even if it means that our own coffers have to suffer for it. The hit that we will collectively take will be exceedingly smaller than the immediate area around Syria is taking alone. In the long haul, the refugees can hopefully be integrated into our communities and live and work alongside us, rather than wasting away in mass-shelters in the vicinity of Syria.