A 6-year-old boy from New York is touching hearts around the world. The boy, named Alex, wrote a letter to President Barack Obama; his letter has already been publicly shared with the world by the president, and now Alex’s words are going viral.
Alex wrote the letter after seeing a photo of Omran Daqneesh, the 6-year-old Syrian boy who sat, stunned, in the back of an ambulance after his home was destroyed in an air strike. The attack resulted in the death of eight Syrians; five of which were children, including Omran’s 10-year-old brother. A photo of Omran went viral, quickly becoming a symbol of the Syrian refugee crisis.
NPR
When Alex saw Omran’s photo, he dreamed of way to help, so he penned the following heartfelt letter to President Obama:
NPR
Dear President Obama,
Remember the boy who was picked up by the ambulance in Syria? Can you please go get him and bring him to my home?
Park in the driveway or on the street and we will be waiting for you guys with flags, flowers, and balloons. We will give him a family and he will be our brother. Catherine, my little sister, will be collecting butterflies and fireflies for him. In my school, I have a friend from Syria, Omar, and I will introduce him to Omar.
We can all play together. We can invite him to birthday parties and he will teach us another language. We can teach him English too, just like my friend Aoto from Japan.
Please tell him that his brother will be Alex who is a very kind boy, just like him. Since he won’t bring toys and doesn’t have toys Catherine will share her big blue stripy white bunny.And I will share my bike and I will teach him how to ride it. I will teach him additions and subtractions in math. And he can smell Catherine’s lip gloss penguin which is green. She doesn’t let anyone touch it.
Thank you very much! I can’t wait for you to come!
Alex
6 years old
President Obama was so moved by Alex’s words, he read the letter aloud at a United Nations summit on the refugee crisis. “The humanity that a young child can display– who hasn’t learned to be cynical, or suspicious, or fearful of other people because of where they’re from, or how they look, or how they play.” Obama said, after reading the letter. “We can all learn from Alex.”
“Imagine what the world would look like if we were [more like Alex]. Imagine the suffering we could ease and the lives we could save.”
The White House posted a video to YouTube of Alex reading his letter aloud. Watch the moving video below.
Share Alex’s compassion and love today.
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