I love my country. Without a doubt, I think Canada is the greatest country in the world to live, for many reasons. I’m extremely proud of our people, economy and our values. Perhaps this is why I am having a hard time understanding the refugee crisis taking over Europe, which is starting to impact the entire Western world.

If Canada were under attack by some perverted terrorist group such as ISIS, there is no way in hell that I would be leaving for Germany. After demanding the best of the best arms support from the international community, I’d stay and fight… and so would millions of my fellow Canadians - this is sacred land to us. To leave would be to surrender to evil and give up everything our grandfathers and great grandfathers fought for.

[Tweet “Some things are worth fighting and, god forbid, dying for. Your country is one.”]

Women and children aside, don’t these refugees want to stay and fight to defend their birthland? That’s precisely what many Kurds have done in Iraq, despite attacks from not only ISIS, but even Turkey and groups of Iranian soldiers. Many Kurds refuse to leave because they have a deep sense of patriotism and pride. If it wasn’t for them, Western nations would have little choice but to put thousands of more troops back in Iraq.

So do the fleeing refugees not feel a deep desire to try and preserve the country in which they were born and raised - like many Kurds? The same land where they formed childhood memories, where they met their sweetheart, put their grandparents to rest and so on?

Am I oversimplifying?

If it was just one nationality of refugees from a war-torn country fleeing, perhaps I would be out of line making these comments. But the fact is, this refugee crisis goes far beyond Syria. It stretches from Asia to Africa and up to the Middle East. It’s a mass exodus.

You can bet that if these refugees’ countries were competing in the World Cup many would be draped in national colors. They’re sunshine patriots…

At the time of the American Revolutionary War, Thomas Paine wrote:

“THESE are the times that try men’s souls. The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of their country; but he that stands by it now, deserves the love and thanks of man and woman.”

And going by the casualties and news reports, the numbers suggest that getting on these refugee boats bound for Europe are extremely dangerous, perhaps more so than if they never left their respective countries at all…