Thoughts on Immigrants, Guest Workers & Refugees

It has been a few weeks since I watched the World Cup final between Argentina and Germany at some ridiculous o'clock hour at a random smokey bar with some coworkers in Dubai.  While I was hoping for an Argentina win, Germany played a very good game.  I also had the privilege to watch them clean up Brazil on their journey while surrounded by Germans.

Better than the game they played was one of the stories that came out after the event was over.  Mesut Ozil, one of the players on the German team made a donation to pay for the surgery of some needy children in Brazil.  Before the event started, he payed for the surgery of 11 children.  After Germany won, ESPN reported that he increased the number to 23.  The previous 11 represented the number of players, but 23 was the number of the entire team.

Mesut Ozil is not a very German name.  It is obviously Turkish.  Previous articles I read said he is a second generation Turk who was born in Germany.  While he may be a rare case of extreme financial and athletic success in any class, his family at one time were migrant workers.  In a time where one of the consistent headlines in many countries is how to close the border to keep foreigners out, I wonder what would have happened if Germany kept out Ozil's grandparents.

Reading this story, I can't help but wonder who will be the next Mesut Ozil.  Will he or she play football, get a university degree under extreme circumstances, find a cure for cancer, foster world peace....

Just maybe some of our much needed resolutions will come from the offspring of a refugee that has fled a war torn country, or from someone that has moved somewhere else for a better life.  There was a time when a list of the most famous refugees circulated the internet and there you saw Madeline Albright, Albert Einstein and others on the list.

Twenty-three.  It might be a small number, but for those children and their families, it's a huge deal.