A Danish police officer displayed his humane side when he chose to play with a Syrian refugee girl who was displaced from her homeland.
Many of the images of the massive refugee crises and Syrian migrants fleeing their homeland are stark and tragic and filled with human suffering mixed with desperation. Men struggling, women weeping, and children wandering hopelessly as their families traverse unforgiving terrain or travel in cramped vehicles are common sights. However, amidst the chaos, a Danish police officer chose to alleviate the suffering of a little Syrian girl by spending some time with her and entertaining her.
The photos showing the officer playing with the Syrian girl as her family trudged, like thousands of others, along the Danish-German border towards Sweden, were taken by photojournalist Michael Drost-Hansen. The journalist was chronicling the struggles of hundreds of refugees passing through Denmark on Wednesday, when he came across this heartwarming scene, reported 9 News .
To humor the child, the Danish police officer appeared to play a simple game of “where’s the ring” in the middle of a highway. Though it’s not clear who is hiding the ring, the game surely seemed to delight the little girl as joy was plastered on her face. The delight as the game progressed was perfectly captured by the photographer.
The photos have quickly gone viral on the internet. According to Danish newspaper BT , it was the officer who held his wedding ring in one of his hands and asked the Syrian refugee girl to guess which one. Speaking about the photo that proves humanity still exists amidst chaos, Police assistant commissioner Knud Reinholdt said:
“The picture speaks for itself. The picture shows is that even though we have a task that we must solve, then we are also dealing with people who are in a difficult situation that nobody wants to be in. We have to [deal] with children who have experienced a lot of things, and who have traveled far, so of course we understand it, and if we can make life a little easier for them as in the pictures, then it’s worth it. It does not cost anything.”
The rampant civil war in Syria has displaced more than 4 million people so far, and the world’s developed countries are trying to deal with one of the largest human migrations as refugees knock on their doors. While Denmark’s government might not have a kind outlook towards the migrants, this Danish police officer shows humanity is a personal choice.
[Image Credit | Michael Drost-Hansen via Flygtningekrise , Imgur , Reddit , Imgur ]
