Ukrainians Resist Evil!
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| Bitter Child of Memory-- Kiev Ukraine |
NOW IN THE THIRD WEEK of Putin’s invasion of Ukraine. The brutal ugly specter of Joseph Stalin manifests. The Russian military brags they have destroyed all bridges around Mariupol. Leaving nearly half a million Ukrainian citizens without food, water, or electricity.
While missiles and artillery rain down on Ukrainians huddled in basements and bunkers, I sit in a comfortable office chair, the sun streaming through the window, a cup of freshly made coffee perched on my desk. Yesterday afternoon I drove to a nearby grocery store with shelves filled to overflowing with all the imaginable food a person could want or need. A cornucopia. A bakery filled with nearly every imaginable bread and sweet treat. I brought home bags full of groceries. Our ample larder, a bounty thanks to earth, water, soil and the farmers and farm families that diligently plant and harvest.
As a free American, sipping my coffee I’m a bit dazed although not surprised by Putin’s invasion. A friend who had diligently dug into these matters after Putin helped install Trump in the White House had supplied me with enough reading material over a year ago that I understood Putin had been planning his invasion of Ukraine for many years.
Most experts expected Ukraine to fall, surrender with leaders fleeing the country in a few short days. They badly underestimated the Ukrainians and over estimated the Russian military. Their assessment based on logic and firepower. True Ukrainians are badly outgunned. But matters of the heart and racial memory go beyond apparent logic. Ukrainians know what tyranny is. They have lived through the loss of freedom by invasions in World War Two and it’s aftermath.
In 1932 Joseph Stalin genocided over 4 million Ukrainians by starvation. Known in Ukraine as the Holodomor, a Ukrainian word meaning “starvation to inflict death.” Stalin’s rationale for this genocide, to punish those independent minded people and replace Ukraine’s small farms with state-run collectives. Stalin even refused food aid from other countries that would have replaced the food he took from those farm families by force.
Putin has long been active in sanitizing Stalin to justify his dictatorship and tyranny. Using Orwellian tactics the truth of Stalin’s brutality and murdering not only Ukrainians but also Russians has been erased by decrees, laws, and jailing. Putin controls the media. To tighten the screws Putin recently dictated a new law in Russia that makes reporting truth a crime. Putin dictated that his invasion be called a “Special Military Operation.” Honestly reporting that Putin invaded Ukraine can get a journalist 15 years in prison. As normal Putin’s state controlled media uses lies to manipulate the Russian people. Those few media organizations still remaining in Russia dedicated to honest journalism had to shut their doors.
Truth stands in implacable opposition to evil. Lies, deceits of all types, the tool of evil. In this regard the Ukrainians fight for truth. For Free Speech. Has a familiar ring? In our Constitution The First Amendment guarantees “freedom of speech” and “of the press”.
On January 6, 2021 we in the U.S. witnessed an assault on the hallmark of our democracy: the peaceful transfer of power based on a free and fair election. This assault on We The People instigated by a man who swore to uphold the Constitution then President Donald Trump, bosom buddy of Vladimir Putin. No surprise his method for instigating the attempted coup, the Big Lie that he had been cheated out of a second term. His party has continued to support this lie in spite of the fact that honest party members involved in the election and all the officials including his own attorney general confirmed that the election had been honest and fair.
Reports indicate that then President Trump had watched the assault on the Capitol he had instigated on T.V. Instead of doing anything to stop the assault even at the urgings of family and persons of his own party he took delight in the violence done by a significant number of his followers. Such is his sick nature. Many of the Police defending the Capitol were injured, traumatized and some died.
To confirm and reestablish that Free and Fair elections continue to be honored impeachment proceedings were brought against Donald Trump. Seemingly a no brainer to any semi objective observer. But that party nobly begun with Abraham Lincoln to free the slaves from oppression seems to have lost all basic American values. Only a small number in that party had the moral courage to put We the People before their party’s narrow interests. Without enough votes in the Senate to find Trump guilty one of our most important checks and balances in our Constitution the removal of a rogue President for “high crimes and misdemeanors” became a marker. Proof the Constitution so many gave their lives to protect in World War Two had become a thing to dodge rather than the essential guide necessary to maintain integrity of our Government.
In this failure we see the craven weakness in most Republican politicians to do the right thing. The honorable thing. Their lack of moral fortitude now infects the American Body Politic. An honest cynicism has settled uncomfortably into the citizens psyche to see their Constitution violated then the remedy ignored.
Now in Ukraine, freedom fighters, soldiers, and citizenry stand against a superior force when logic would seem to dictate quick capitulation and accommodation. But the Ukrainian people remember how violent tyranny is. The whole world now bears witness to their determination to live free.
Live Free or Die brings to mind that year 1776 when the People of America presented to the world The Declaration of Independence. Then sought to free themselves from the rule of a King George in Great Britain. Many years of struggle followed before the United States of America had become firmly established.
The solidarity of the vast majority on planet earth in support of Ukraine and their struggle while condemning Putin indicates that a great spark lives inside most humans. A spark that lights the desire for self determination and the right to truth.
Putin demonstrates the danger of dictatorship where a country does not have free and fair elections. Besides stuffing the ballot box Putin has literally killed off his competition. Evidently just winning by hook or crook is not enough. His paranoia fears the truth as represented by a living vocal opposition. Now his narcissistic paranoia has spilled over into Ukraine. Putin views Ukrainian citizens living in a democracy a threat to his dictatorship. Putin may be haunted by those he’s already murdered. His nightmares, filled with ghosts seeking revenge. For those who do violence invite and fear violence in return.
My thoughts and those of billions of all creeds and races around the world focus on the People of Ukraine. Their courage demonstrates that which is best in all of us. I will honor these feelings of respect and awe for their courage. I pray for those facing starvation again in Ukraine and today I will fast knowing that in any given moment I can walk into the kitchen, open the refrigerator or cupboard to find the food I need thanks to so many in this world of interdependency and being.
I feel great gratitude for my fellow human beings around the world who endeavor to get food delivered where a need manifests whether due to war, climate or economic insecurity. Hopefully, a way will be found to get food, water and medicine to those Ukrainians now besieged in Mariupol.
Who do the Ukrainians fight for? Yes, for their families and their homeland. Yes, for the right to self determination. Yes, for free and fair elections. Yes unbelievably even for the Russian people who if they knew the truth might figure out how to get rid of Vladimir Putin and install a truly representative government. In truth, last but not least the Ukrainians fight for you and me. For all of us. For here at home we're besieged by those who would do violence to our Free and Fair elections. Republican controlled State Legislatures in many states use Trump's Big Lie to justify their further attempts to politicize the running of elections and thereby corrupt them in their favor.
Our hearts beat as one with the Ukrainian people. They remind all of us sitting comfortably sipping coffee in the free world to not take for granted the right to have a representative government. As the attack on our Capitol on January 6, 2021 demonstrates, freedom requires vigilance and principled conduct by those claiming to represent We the People. Now two poems and prayer for the Ukrainian people.
Mass Grave Ukraine
In Ukraine
Bodies pile up,
Nothing new,
Remember
Nineteen thirty-two
And the Holocaust
A trench is cut,
To fill with
Those who
Stood against evil
And gave their all;
Remnants now,
The waste of war
The toll of courage,
The spirit
That used
Lips to kiss,
Hearts to beat,
Gone on
To a
Better abode;
Bleak, hapless,
Hollow words
Pile up,
Even as soil falls
Like a strange rain
To patter innocently
To cover
The stench;
In the world
"War Crimes,"
Echoes from
Nation to Nation
While thinking,
At least, it’s not
World War Three,
Yet....,
But solemn black bags
And soil falling like rain
Bear witness that
The Gates of Hell
Have opened,
And expects a
Booming business;
All Quiet On The Western Front
Thanks for joining me. May peace and serenity be yours. Tony
Anthony G. Hendricks, author, poet, nature lover -- naturally; Buddha Blues, just published with a great cover created by his Sister Judith; available at Amazon as print on demand or as an e book at Amazon or Kobo. With formatting help on cover and interior by Woven Red. Other books The Wasteland Revisited, a book length poem about the dystopia causing global warming; available as an e book at Amazon; A Journey In The Human Dilemma, collected poetry and prose; trade paperback.
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