Alex, a six-year-old boy from Scarsdale, New York, wrote to President Barack Obama after seeing the powerful image of the young Syrian boy, Omran, covered in blood in dust sitting in an ambulance.
He asked Obama, “Can you please go get him a bring him to [my home]? We’ll be waiting for you guys with flags, flowers and balloons. We will give him a family and he will be our brother.”
President Obama shared this note at the Leaders Summit on Refugees, touching on the humanity of a young child, “who hasn’t learned to be cynical.”
“We should all be more like Alex. Imagine what the world would look like if we were. Imagine the suffering we could ease and the lives we could save,” Obama said in a Facebook post.
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
He asked Obama, “Can you please go get him a bring him to [my home]? We’ll be waiting for you guys with flags, flowers and balloons. We will give him a family and he will be our brother.”
President Obama shared this note at the Leaders Summit on Refugees, touching on the humanity of a young child, “who hasn’t learned to be cynical.”
“We should all be more like Alex. Imagine what the world would look like if we were. Imagine the suffering we could ease and the lives we could save,” Obama said in a Facebook post.
Read Alex’s full letter to President Obama here:
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