Make Them Welcome, Harry Leslie Smith's Last Video Plea On World Refugee Day.

It’s World Refugee Day and I wish having a day, week, month or year reserved to give greater awareness to the plight of refugees could change enough hearts and minds that their troubles would end. But it won’t because the world we live in is a hotel where us the ordinary are the liveried footmen to the entitled. Until we change our politics; the pitching and fetching of our lives will continue and for the most vulnerable on our planet their lives will be as Shakespeare once wrote: As flies to wanton boys are we to the gods; They kill us for their sport.

You don’t believe me just review how the deaths of 700 or more refugees in an overcrowded, unseaworthy vessel that sank off the coast of Greece has been covered by the news media. And then have a peak at the referential treatment of five very privileged people, including two billionaires, missing since Sunday in a submersible accident which occurred during their descent to disturb Titanic’s dead at the bottom of the North Atlantic.

It’s why I love my dad all the more because, he was not a man of wealth or influence but he donated the last years of his life to make Refugees Welcome. So much so that on his deathbed Canada’s Minister of Refugees came to pay his respects to my father for his efforts. But my dad in his typical fashion said the ministers time should not be spend on him, who was “a goner,” but on refugees.

In June of 2018, Harry Leslie Smith predicted he would be dead before Christmas. He was 95, and his body was tired from old age and the relentless work schedule he undertook for the last five years of his life to do his Harry's Last Stand tour, "to not make his past our future."

He was exhausted and physically weak after being battered by an unforgiving and persistent lung infection. In July, despite his diminished health, he agreed to do a video for UNHCR Canada to help make refugees welcome. My dad knew his time was short, but he didn't want to be selfish with the time left to him. Harry Leslie Smith used his last few months of life to advocate for others, and that is not only remarkable but heroic.

I urge you watch his two minute video below and share it as widely as possible.

As always, thank you for reading my sub stack posts because I really need your help this month. Your subscriptions to Harry’s Last Stand keep the legacy of Harry Leslie Smith alive and me housed. This month is proving to be real scramble to get next months together. So if you can join with a paid subscription which is just 3.50 a month or a yearly subscription or a gift subscription. I promise the content is good, relevant and thoughtful. Take Care, John.