Watching the News and Weeping for Three Weeks
I am saddened. My heart is broken. At 55, I have seen many things and unfortunately, quite a bit of it has been bad. After moving through Covid, like everyone on the planet and experiencing all that it has caused, physically, medically, emotionally, financially and socially, the last thing anyone needed was a war. And we saw it coming for months and now here it is and it seems that there is nothing NATO can do to help that will be able to save Ukrainians. I watch President Volodymyr Zelensky beg every morning to have the skies above his country declared a no fly zone and I hear him and other Ukrainian government officials and citizens beg for millitary supplies so that they can fight to preserve their home. Preserve their country. Their people. Their children. Their freedom. Just one day after his pleas to Canada’s House of Commons, I watched the video he played for the US Congress today and it was painful to see images of his country before and after Russia bullied it’s way into Ukraine and I wept. I wept because somehow, Russia has the world by the balls. Somehow even after being pressured with numerous sanctions by displeased nations Russia is still squeezing tight and the world can’t get Vladimir Putin, to let go.
I understand why no country in NATO wants to declare the Ukrainian air space a no fly zone. Putin is unpredictable. He is rash and typical of bullies, he is apt to do something so stupid and so dangerous, it will plunge the world into chaos it has not known for 76 years, 10 months, 6 days. Yes, we have seen civil unrest. Yes, we know terrorism but the world has not picked sides and fought amongst itself for 76 years and no world leader wants to make a choice that will allow Russia to take us down that dark path. So, what’s next? Well, it seems we watch, we cry, we protest, we send money and supplies and those of us who feel there is a God, will pray and we will watch every night, wait anxiously for the morning and hope with the dawn of a new day there is good news. That there is an end. That there is peace and that Ukraine, though battered, still exists. I understand why NATO doesn’t give Zelensky and his people what they want, but I do not agree with them. Russia has NATO walking on eggshells because in some disillusioned universe, Putin sees a resurgence of Russia since the collapse of the Union in 1991. In his mind he sees himself restoring Russia to how it was pre 1991. Wants to Make Russia Great Again (cue the outcome of January 6, 2021, in the US because of that type of thinking — kinda makes you shudder, no?) He wants to write history with him in it as a great and powerful leader however, based on Russian protests of war on Ukraine, it seems that he is the only one who really wants a repetition of the past regime. History has its heroes but it has it’s evil lunatics too and he has reserved his place in history among the latter.
I have been weeping for three weeks because Ukrainians are not unlike you or me. They have a culture, a history and ideals just like you and me. They love their freedom just like you and me and they deserve their happiness and they deserve to have their country back. I don’t know when this will happen. I don’t know if it will happen but I hope it does. I am feeling the way I did on September 11th 2001. I felt a deep sense of pain, I felt fear and regret for bringing a child into the world. I am tired of my life being punctuated by this feeling of dread and regret. But, I know my husband and I have done everything we could to put two decent, wonderful and good human beings on the planet and hopefully that is the positive difference we have made in the world. We raised our children to be they type of humans who can band together with their peers and change the world for the better and maybe, just maybe, good will triumph far more easily and more frequently over evil than it does now. My heart is with Ukraine, with every mother trying to protect her child, with every son, father, brother holding the line. My heart is with every senior wondering why this is happening again and my heart is with their President who carries the torch for his country and it’s citizens. I will watch and weep until there is no reason to do so anymore and I hope it will be because my tears will turn to laughter as I celebrate Ukraine’s victory with the rest of the world.
