A road less travelled
“It takes a courageous soul to live in accord with your true self”
Today I write in honor of the US journalist Brent Renaud, the other journalists and publications like Kyiv Post who continue to defend the principles of freedom.
A sense of Privilege or power can be derived, not only from a monetary advantage someone may have over the other. It can also come from cultural misconceptions, urban myths or plain falsehoods.
Generalizing and overlaying our own experiences to help define what we don’t immediately understand, can have very unfortunate consequences. Similarly, a sense of discomfort or dislike of things that a person may be unaware of can have disastrous consequences.
First and foremost, as human beings we need to recognize that we are Seven Billion strong. Together we can withstand and stand up to any calamity so long as we stand together.
We also need to recognize that the Math, of factors that impact as many people, is complex.
In my view of the world, Power, and oppression, do not, have to be on opposite ends of the spectrum. I believe in the innate goodness of the human kind and believe that compassionate and informed Power, appropriately deployed, can foster trust, love and can help reduce oppression. Reduce the Oppression from hunger, from illness, sorrow and absolutely anything, that holds us from achieving our full potential as neighbors and co-residents on this planet.
I did not expect to wake up to a war. I did not expect to wake up to a full scale invasion of a sovereign nation.
Instead, I wake up to find the entire world order changed. I wake to flashing CNN headlines about the “Russian Invasion”, and NPR podcasts about Vladimir Putin’s plans for the “Denazification” of a nation headed by a Jewish President.
Even I, safely ensconced in my home as I am, can see the signs of the war first hand. I never thought that the message “This site can’t be reached” would look so ominous, when I realized that “the Official Website of the President of Ukraine” no longer works.
The Ukrainian children woke up to the wail of sirens, the sight of wrecked buildings, the devastation of bombings, and the sound of gunfire. The Ukrainian people woke up to find that the freedom they had waited and fought for so long was under siege once again.
I thought Ukraine would fall within a few days, especially as I quickly realized that the rest of the world would not come to their defense. After all, Ukraine has been embattled by years of puppet governments, political corruption, economic turmoil, and war.
NATO would not come. The EU would not help. Some couldn’t even condemn the war at the U.N. With no cavalry coming, the Ukrainian people have held on through sheer persistence and a fierce desire for the right of self-determination.
President Zelensky has become the man of the hour, christened by some as the Leader of the Democratic World. So how does the President of a nation whose entire country is under invasion, his Capital under siege and his survival uncertain become the “Leader of the Free World”, a “lion”, and a “George Washington” for Ukraine?
Rather than giving in to the despair of impending defeat and doom, he and the Ukrainian people instead gritted their teeth and prepared to fight on. They choose to resist with all their might, and continue to fight for a cause, even as difficult it may seem, that is far greater to them than their very lives - the cause of freedom.
People who attack Freedom don’t understand that Freedom is not a physical entity that can be restrained or destroyed with force.
The freedom of Ukraine’s people cannot be constrained, restrained or destroyed as it exists within the hearts of Ukrainians.
Not only have the Ukrainians rallied together to defend their freedom and what they consider their way of life, they have rallied the entire world to their cause.
I do not know what the next day will bring for President Zelensky and his family that is his Country. I do not know what the next day will bring for Ukrainian Parliament member Kira Rudik who has vowed to stay and defend her city. I do not know what the next day will bring for the Ukrainian people who leave behind generations of memories or the ones staying behind to fight. I do not know what will befall the thousands of Russians who protest for peace knowing that they risk their lives in doing so.
I do not know.
But President Zelensky and his Country does!! There is only one way this will end – Their Freedom will prevail.
