Private grief, public action
There is distance in experience, we as observers and Others as victims, and with that comes the distance in our ability to understand their pain. For that reason it seems rather voyeuristic for the well-meaning masses to co-opt the private tragedy of Aylan Kurdi’s death and transform it into a moment of public grief. This is not our struggle. Aylan was not our child. He did not die in order for us to have an emotional and political experience.
Yet that is exactly what is happening.
![Lange_mother800](http://web.archive.org./web/20150907202151im_/https://overland.org.au/wp-content/Lange_mother800-e1441587687399-624x400.jpg)