Love to Ukraine

Our right to free speech remains intact, but we exercise caution in the extreme when it comes to using it. Okay, maybe not you, but I do. You see, I come from a family and community that agreed about nothing- good people yes, but opinionated, and stubborn, immovable on certain subjects. Despite our differences, we remained under one tent and had to get along. There was a great deal of noise inside that tent- arguments too, but there was also lively discussion and laughter. I remember when you could have an opinion.

There are places in the world where dissent means death.

I haven’t been able to sleep for the past couple of nights. I got up and of course, like you, turned on the news and watched Russian tanks roll into Ukraine. I was stupefied by this- it seemed like a lousy old movie, the one you never finish because it is loaded with hack dialogue and stock characters. I watched those antiquated tanks lumber through the empty streets- how many novels have we read with this opening scene? The concept of killing people in a land grab seems antiquated, of another century. But men keep doing it. We’re watching the same old show and expecting the ending to be different.

How many classes did we take in school where we learned step by step how a democracy crumbles because the people in it take it for granted, and when challenged, stand by, do nothing, handing the reins to a madman to run roughshod over them? If it’s confusing to you, it is to me too. My father would say, follow the money. It is reported that the 70-year-old Russian president is the richest man in the world. If that’s the case, why does he need more? Why does he want Ukraine? He wants it because he can have it. His greed and contempt for people fuels his ambition.

Experience can help us understand how to move forward. How many men and women in our families, who wore a uniform have told us their war stories to ensure that it never happens again? I don’t know if we were listening.

My sisters, I appeal to you. (If you’re a man reading this, I will get to you.) Ladies, war destroys our families, our communities, our properties and our dreams. War paralyzes our children. Brutality begets violence. As women, we will endure rape, torture and abuse in a climate where power is sought above all else. War will plunge us into immediate poverty, which takes generations to reverse.

I heard two former American leaders comment, “Putin is a genius”. One never wore a uniform and the other can no longer fit in it. Neither are worthy of leading us because they are on the side of the killer.

Continue reading in Part Three: A Letter to the Editor.