President Toomas Hendrick of Estonia Ilves took the podium at the European parliament to encourage other European leaders to continue supporting the influx of refugees into the continent. He held himself up as an example of what can become of a reufgee family when given asylum.

"I say this all, inter alia, as the son of refugees, who fled terror in their homeland in Estonia in WWII," he said. "Which is why I have this accent. I hope a few decades from now, there will have a President in democratic Syria, who speaks Arabic with German accent. My parents did not always feel welcome when they reached Sweden, but they were given a chance."

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Ilves's parents fled to Sweden during World War II. He was born in the city of Stockholm, but grew up in a New Jersey suburb. He went on to become the valedictorian of his Hich School class, then attain a bachelor's degree at Columbia and a master's at U Penn. He worked in education and as a journalist before serving as the Minister of Foreign Affairs for Estonia. He eventually was elected president of the country in 2006, an office he still holds.

His personal experience and the resilience of Europe in the face of previous humanitarian crises is proof positive that there is a capacity to deal with the current surge of refugees and that doing the right thing will lead to positive outcomes. Greece is on pace to reach 1 million migrants by next month. The number of refugees seeking asylum in the first month of 2016 portends not only a continued rate of people entering Europe, but more than last year. Pressure is building on countries like Turkey for turning away refugees, in addition to the internal political pressure in countries to close borders.

The 50 billion Euros (in today's money) spent by the U.N. Relief and Rehabilitation Admnistration to support people affected by WWII is an example of the ways in which the world can and has stepped up, said Ilves. He argued forcefully that Europe can handle the crisis and must act immediately to avert a greater crisis further down the road.

"Ladies and Gentlemen, let us now gather our wits and strengths, leave behind this indecision, finger-pointing and ducking of responsibility. We will handle this migration crisis. If we show the resolve of our forebears. We must act in solidarity with those member states that bear the brunt of the crisis, we must accept a functional form of burden-sharing," he said.

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