The loss of innocence.

Firstly let me make this clear, this is my opinion and I will respect yours if you respect mind. So with that out of the way let me begin.

The pictures of Aylan Kurdi dead on a beach will stay with me for many years. As the picture of the young girl running naked down a path was THE picture of the Vietnam War, this picture sums up everything that is wrong in this world of ours at the moment.

Immigration does work, all of us have ancestors who came here from other countries to make a better life for themselves and helped develop with their skills and morals the country that we live in today. From the influx of black people from Jamaica and the West Indies in the 50's, to the Irish, Indians, Pakistanis, and Polish of the more recent times, they have all contributed to this country we live in and we would poorer for them not being here. What doesn't work is an open door policy which has been the case for the last 15 years or so, and because of this we have become insular and totally selfish in the way that we see the world we live in.

I have been very selective of the friends I make down the years and I have also moved away from friends that showed themselves to be racist. I did this because I don't believe in persecuting people because of their race or creed. I hate racism of any kind, I find it repulsive but YOU can have a conversation about immigration and NOT be racist, this I believe strongly but that's just me.

Over the past few days I've read and seen a lot of statements and so called 'facts' being pushed around by people I thought knew better. So lets get this out in the open and this is where I stand on the issue.

If you elect a government they are supposed to look out for the interests of the country. Labour didn't, its a fact that they opened the doors to Europe and started a social experiment that saw the face of this country change forever. However neither did the coalition do anything to change this. Both of these governments saw fit to start wars in other countries because they decided it was better for the safety of this country. To a degree I accept that, but what I don't accept is the fact that after we have bombed these countries almost back to the dark ages, no infrastructure and such forth we then walk away and leave them to it.

When ISIS then starts up because of wars WE and America started, and the people of these countries look to leave we then say they cant come here. Yet we were the ones who started it, we were the ones that led them to believe we were there to help them, yet now we are saying no sorry mate go away? As a human being I find that totally abhorrent. Who are we to lead these people on, to use them to get what we want and then walk away? Really?

Before you all say well we have no room, I agree with you we don't but that isn't their fault. We have allowed a social culture to exist in this county, a culture that has removed the work ethic from the people of this country, where people get more money for being on the dole rather than going to work, yet successive governments don't tackle this problem because its unpopular to do so. We have TV's shows almost glamouring the way that people live on benefits and make 'reality stars' out of them. Benefit street is a prime example. Before you start having I go I also get that there numerous people on the dole because of the way their industries have been removed from them especially up North with the coal mining and the shipyards. We need to do more to support them and yet we don't.

Yes there are families on the streets and kids going hungry, but that has always been the case in this country and the rest of world, that isn't the fault of the refugees and immigrants, that's the fault of a government that has failed them. Numerous governments for decades that have failed them not just now.

We need to stop the open door policy that we have and only allow the genuine asylum seekers and refugees into our country. We need to make sure that our controls are stricter and if that means annoying the rest of Europe then so be it. We need to make sure that the benefits system is there for people that genuinely need it, not for those who see it as a way of life, That includes the people born here and not just the immigrants that arrive.

We need to take a long hard look at ourselves in the mirror and see how others see us and then, and only then will be able to start moving this country back to being the great country it once was. Will it be easy? Nope. Will annoy the hell out of most of the country? Yes. Will it benefit us long term? Yes it will but where is the leader that is prepared to do this? I don't see one in any party and that is a problem.

But before we do all of that we must stop interfering in other country's business if we are not going to make sure that when we leave them they are in a better position then we started it. We have to stop telling people that the western way of life is the right way, then refusing them the chance to sample it when they follow the dream we sold them.

Finally we must make sure that there are no more children washing up dead on beaches, because whatever you think is the answer, what ever you think is the reason, whatever you think of the parents, that little boy is dead. He never had a chance to grow old and that as a human being makes me sad to my very core.

I don't have all the answers I never said I did, I'm not paid to come up with them that's what governments are for. I'm just someone who is has been sadden by he things I've read and seen this week and decided to have a say about it. Thats all, that's just me.

We don't own this planet we are here for just short while so lets show some compassion and not judge people on what we THINK we know only on what we actually DO know. Yes charity starts at home, I agree it should, I also agree there is a huge problem in this country of over crowding, but we shouldn't loose our compassion, we shouldn't lose our souls, we shouldn't wrap ourselves up and be so damn selfish and insular that we cannot reach out the hand of friendship to someone that genuinely needs it, no matter where on this planet of ours they come from.