Refugee . . . nope

Recent world incidents set me off in a blog writing frenzy -which I just deleted. It's tempting to analyze what's going to happen next in the Middle East. However, there's precious little I can do about any of it so it's not one of those things I can take action on.

Some things you can prep for. Some things you can't. However, the last place you want to be is in the middle of a war zone. When things get too desperate the only thing to do is to try and leave. At that point you are a refugee and it's tough to be a refugee. You arrive at a new country after being robbed, beaten, raped or worse. Let's just say the people at the host country don't exactly get to see you at your best. You do not want to be that person.

Here's the weird thing. Most people can leave a country with a decent amount of comfort and for less money than you'd have to pay a human trafficker. Timing is everything. The trick is to leave when things still look pretty normal. Much easier to get a visa and book a flight out of a country that's not actively falling apart.

Only those willing to take a hard cold look at their situation can take of advantage of early exit. It's hard to leave everything in one's life behind -especially when life still doesn't look too bad and there's hope of everything going back to normal. Nobody wants to be Chicken Little, shouting about the sky falling. (of course, sometimes the sky really does fall.)

Worried about friends and family? If you successfully escape and establish yourself in a new area it gives the folks who come behind you a place to go.

We forget how blood awful being caught in a war zone can get. Recently I was reading about the ancient city of Merv. Almost nobody has heard of it, but at one time it was the largest city in the world. Why don't we know about it? In the 13th century the Mongols conquered it. Some historians estimate over a million people were put to death. That's a lot of heavy messy labor with a sword.

Any place can turn into a Merv. Conditions can go south quickly. The unthinkable happens. The way to avoid the unthinkable is to think about it anyway. Imagine being a citizen of Merv. Everyone must have thought things wouldn't get too bad. Some guy who hit the trail when the Mongols were just a rumor would have thought to be a nut, by a million people -who later were put to the sword.

For those of us with modest means the best way to avoid desperate measures is to keep our eyes open and act before anyone else.

-Sixbears