First, bring migrants to a safe port

My first cousin Stefan Schmidt is a captain in the German merchant marines. He is typical of the post World War II generation who have responded to the horrors of German politics and war with exceptional kindness and a sense of obligation to make the world a better place.

I have been surprised every time I visit my many relatives in Germany at the excellent educational and health care system. But I'm also amazed that when you go to a bank there are several opportunities with instant pledge cards right next to the teller to commit some money to help those in poor developing countries and support international food, health care, education and do other good deeds.

My cousin Stefan has gone far beyond giving to charities. He has actually captained ships that have rescued refugees at sea from drowning. He is not exceptionally religious but he believes that it is our moral obligation to help those in peril. His actions remind me of the naval hymn by William Whiting who was inspired by the dangers of the sea described in Psalm 107. The hymn was popularized by the Royal and the United States Navy and later used by most U.S. armed forces:

Eternal Father strong to save

Whose arm has bound the restless wave

Who bids the mighty ocean deep

It's own appointed limits keep

O hear us when we cry to Thee

For those in Peril on the sea

In 2004, Stefan and others on the Cap Anamur, a freighter converted into a rescue ship, picked up 37 African refugees from a sinking inflatable boat in the Mediterranean Sea off the coast of Italy. When they tried to dock at the nearest port, they were forced back to sea by the Italian navy and Coast Guard. For 12 days, the Cap Anamur navigated in international waters off the Sicilian coast.

When Stefan, Cap-Anamur aid organization president Elias Bierdel, and first officer Vladimir Daschkevich finally were able to bring the hapless human load to shore in Italy they were arrested, spent time in jail, and tried in an Italian court. Only in 2006 did a court in Sicily declare them innocent. German and Italian Interior Ministers at the time said that such 'precedent” must not be allowed to stand and that, in effect, people at risk in sinking boats or drowning in the Mediterranean should be allowed to perish.

As we watch the catastrophe of desperate refugees fleeing war, murder, rape, and genocide unfold in Europe in 2015 we must remember that European leaders have ignored the unfolding disaster surrounding their prosperous nations.

I am disheartened that so many people in the Unites States who write, talk on TV, and send me hate mail claim to be good citizens and good Christians. Maybe Psalm 107 just requires too much compassion and too much personal sacrifice for some. I sleep well knowing that God will punish them for their greed and heartlessness.

Meanwhile cousin Stefan told the judge in Italy that if he encounters drowning humans at sea in the future he would do the same thing again - rescue them and bring them to a safe port. Too bad he was not on his mission when the 3-year-old Kurdish boy Aylan Kurdi drowned and washed ashore on the beach in Turkey.

As I watch the horrible avalanche of desperate people fleeing the horrors of war and depravity in Syria, Iraq and other countries I cannot help but wonder how compassionate people can help reduce the crisis. Germany is facing 1 million refugees as I write this. And the line is getting longer and longer. On the other hand the European open borders policy that allowed free movement of people without borders is collapsing. Borders are going up again.

I have no answers to how Europe should deal with this challenge. I do know that when people are drowning in the sea it seems to me that the moral obligation is to save the drowning souls. Then decide where they will come to permanently rest.

For now I know that God is smiling on Stefan for rescuing the drowning.

' Steffen Schmidt is professor of political science at Iowa State University. Comments: Steffenschmidt2005@gmail.com