The first time I read The Crossing and watched the trailer for The Burning, my jaw dropped. I felt like my entire life, I have lived so ignorantly and have had minimal exposure to all these humanitarian crises around the world. How is it that just because I was born in this specific location, I am lucky enough to live a privileged life and have all my human rights untouched. I realize now that the media is mostly to blame because without the exposure of these human rights infringements along borders, others around the world simply don’t know that they’re taking place.

The piece covering Bambino’s journey was a perfect follow up to the original article. The writing style shifts the perspective of a large humanitarian issue to a more personal story, which makes the problem easier to empathize with. In particular, the section discussing the “push back” method struck a cord with me. This is a perfect example of how a strong government can effectively bend rules in order to achieve a certain action or prevent ones that would, in their mind, negatively impact their country or region. After all the draining traveling, extensive planning, and dangerous crossing attempts, even those who make it inside the lines of the enclave are taken and dropped off in desolate areas. Overall, this article did an incredible job at exposing the extremely challenging process that is being carried out by deserving young people in this region. With each additional hoop these people have to jump through, it becomes apparent that our lives in the United States are blessed beyond measure, and that we need to join together to help those who fight for their lives each day.