Compassion should outweigh fear

To the editor:

I begin with two excerpts from Emma Lazarus' 'New Colossus,” inscribed at the base of The Statue of Liberty.

'Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free.”

'Send these, the homeless, tempest tossed to me, I lift my lamp beside the golden door!”

The people of Syria are experiencing the double horror of being caught between the Assad regime and the militancy of ISIS. How can we live with ourselves if we don't accept the helpless refugees of this brutality?

It is true that there is the possibility that a terrorist could infiltrate these refugees, but the vetting process to enter the U.S. is extensive and not one of the thousands of refugees who have thus far been admitted to the country in recent years have been involved in any act of terrorism.

I am well aware that the chance of the U.S. escaping an act of terror in the future is minimal, but a citizen as well as immigrant could as well perpetrate the act. Who can forget the wave of paranoia focusing on those of Middle Eastern heritage following the Oklahoma City bombing only to find that Timothy McVeigh, a veteran of the U.S. Army, was responsible. We must not let the fear of the possible outweigh the compassion of the probability that without our involvement in this refugee crisis many more people will perish.

Jack Jackson

Cedar Rapids