Risk

The day I turned sixteen I walked out of an abusive home life- anywhere seemed better than there. For a few weeks I slept rough or dossed on people's floors when I could. A knowing boss fed me at work, friends lent me clothes and after a few weeks my best mate's dad worked it out and stepped in, got me a flat, got me back into school - gave me a hearty shove in the right direction - when I look back there have been many crossroads and junctions in life, but few were as important as that. In its simplest terms someone did what was right and gave me a chance to make something of my life.

Delayed at Calais last night it was heartbreaking to see hundreds if not thousands of 'immigrants', lots of them parents with children,walking on the motorway, staring fornlornly through the security fences, trying valiantly to change their lives. These displaced desperate people are seeking things that nearly all of us forget to value or aren't even conscious we have - safety, security, an absence of fear, the chance to better themselves and their families - things that are at the very heart of being human. For these people there's no-one coming to their aid - no-one is doing the right thing or is going to save the day, their sole hope lies in the risks they are prepared to take, the risks they've already taken.

It's fair to say i know a thing or two about risk. I choose to do things many think daft, unacceptable or plain stupid - and I do those things simply for fun - these people are doing
things that no sane person would - jumping off motorway bridges onto lorries, crawling through razor wire, walking into that black tunnel alongside speeding freight trains - and all simply in the hope of a better life, risks neither I or anyone I've ever known would ever even comprehend, consider or need to take.

I know when I'm back in the UK I'll see & hear the word immigrant bandied around as a slur, a derogatory inference, a tactic of fear and hatred for our media to use ,& its the same throughout Europe at the moment, those with the very least demonised by those with comparatively everything. These people aren't coming for benefits (which they don't get), night's in hotels or a mythical free lunch, they simply want a chance to live a life we've spent decades telling them is the right way to live. When I think about what makes our country great, about the people I know and the values we hold dear - I struggle to see what gives us the right to tell these people they can't have their chance too.