It is difficult to fully process what is happening Ukraine. This is a hellish landscape, like the whole war, but as is now common in modern conflicts – this hell is broadcast in almost real time on social media.
It’s literally alive Twitter food from the worst atrocities that humanity is capable of committing against each other. It adds an extra layer of anxiety and horror every time we click on refresh.
What Putin is doing very well could be one of the worst examples of war crimes today.
The Hague’s chief prosecutor at the International Criminal Court has said he plans to launch an investigation into possible crimes against humanity “as soon as possible”.
Since the war between Russia and Ukraine began a week ago, we have seen footage of bombings of children’s hospitals, orphanages and schools. Huge parts of beautiful, extravagant cities have been turned into ruins, death, destruction and worse.
Russian troops have reportedly killed hundreds of civilians, including more than a dozen children.
We have also seen great displays of heroism by Ukrainian President Zelensky, a man who will go down in world history for his extraordinary bravery in refusing to abandon his people.
The actor, who became president, chose to stay and fight, although he has the opportunity to escape and the proposal to get out of his country by our own President Biden.
We also saw the world boxing champion and mayor of Kyiv Vitali Klitschko, as well as his brother Vladimir (also a former boxing superstar) take up arms and join the rest of Ukraine’s forces to defend their country.
As another country goes to war, remember what we should value and why it is worth fighting. (Above) The Ukrainian family embraces an underground metro station used as a bomb shelter in Kyiv on March 2, 2022.
These men are internationally famous athletes and millionaires several times, you don’t have to do that. They are also reportedly on the top list for Putin’s assassinations.
Perhaps even more impressively, we have seen exemplary profiles of courage from ordinary Ukrainians joining in to fight.
Social networks are full of videos of people making Molotov cocktails on street corners. In another viral video, a woman appears to be throwing a flaming bottle out of her car at a Russian military vehicle.
All this is unusual and painful to watch as it unfolds on the world stage.
I found that, like many others, it was difficult for me to focus on anything else in the news or in my personal life.
All of this feels utterly devastating because the American public can do little but show support on social media and in our communities during protests and rallies.
We can also donate humanitarian and refugee aid to the Ukrainian people. We can call our representatives in Congress and demand action, but in general the situation feels both terrible and completely out of control.
I found that I was sending calls and text messages from friends and family only half jokingly about how far this escalation could lead.
At the top of my friends’ group’s concerns are the concerns that this is the beginning of World War III and the potential for a nuclear bomb.
Russian troops have reportedly killed hundreds of civilians, including more than a dozen children. (Above) Premature babies in the basement of Ohmadyt Children’s Hospital, used as a shelter for protection against air strikes, in Kyiv on March 1, 2022.
People are justifiably very, very nervous about what’s next.
If there is one thing that the horror of Ukraine and the tyrannical oppression of Putin can teach us, it is that America, our democracy and our freedom are truly unique and special, and worth fighting for.
I have found that over the past week – even more than normal – I have been extremely grateful to live in a country that is truly free.
We have autonomy as a sovereign democracy. We vote in free and fair elections. We have freedom of speech, freedom of the press, and we do not live under the immediate existential threat of an impending fascist dictatorship that threatens to invade us at any moment.
We are not imprisoned for speaking out against our president as they are in Russia. We are not given state-imposed propaganda. We have freedom on the internet with social media and so many other blessings that come with freedom in the West that I can’t list them all here.
But we must remember that these freedoms are not guaranteed.
We must always remember President Ronald Reagan’s warning: “Freedom is never more than a generation away from extinction.”
Our elections are free, but the forces in our society – both on the left and on the right – seek to undermine our faith in the integrity of the ballot box.
Censors on social networks ban and block opinions and convenient facts that they do not like.
In Canada, truck drivers protesting against Ottawa were pulled from the streets after the government announced unprecedented emergency measures. In America, some of the most liberal of us applauded.
The growing threat from communist China is clearly a challenge for our future, but America and the West have not fully dealt with the danger.
Seeing so many Ukrainians eager to take up arms for a cause bigger than them was heartbreaking, but also inspiring.
Take a closer look at these images, no matter how difficult it is to look at them. (Above) Sick children and women with their newborn babies stand in a basement used as a bomb shelter at the Ohmadet Children’s Hospital in downtown Kyiv, Ukraine, March 1, 2022.
However, it was also difficult to see that so many here in the West take a callous and incoherent view of the atrocities committed against innocent Ukrainians. Quite remarkable people in the comment class keep saying that this should not be our problem.
But it is an opportunity for Americans to put themselves in the shoes of a Ukrainian mother huddled with her young daughter in a subway turned into a bomb shelter.
Imagine yourself as a parent whose premature baby is placed in an underground ad hoc intensive care unit.
As another country goes to war, remember what we should value and why it is worth fighting.
Censorship, hostility to political opponents, intolerance of the other’s ideas are very common in our society. Remember how lucky we are and how precious and fragile freedom really is.
Take a closer look at these images, no matter how difficult it is to look at them.
Realize what we have and how many billions of people on the other side of the world are willing to die for what we take for granted.
Keep your children a little stronger.
Talk more kindly to your neighbor.
Take the time to appreciate that while Americans do not always agree, cultivating a strong and vibrant democracy is in our best interests.
And pray for Ukraine.