Ukraine- Where Women Show Far More Courage Than American Right-wing Pretend Soldiers
"We will shoot you like rabid dogs!"
I watch the video above and think of all the angry White men in this country, prancing around with rifles and playing pretend soldiers…and it makes me laugh. Most of those men would almost certainly turn tail and run the first time a hostile bullet whizzed by anywhere near them. Yet these women are putting their lives on the line- literally- for their homeland and their freedom. And they’re doing so as if it’s the most natural thing in the world- because, for them, it is. It’s the only option.
I wonder how many pretend G.I. Joes would suddenly high-tail it and become REMFs (Google it) at the first sign of hostilities? Many of the women in the video dropped their children off at the Ukrainian border and then turned around because they knew the time had come to fight for their country.
Many of the Right-wingers in this country are all hat and no cattle- weak, pusillanimous cowards who talk the talk but could never walk the walk. They act like bullies, but as soon as someone stands up to them, they’d be out the door and searching for safe harbor.
I’d submit that any of the Ukrainian women in the video possess balls (metaphorically speaking) infinitely larger than any of the cowards who stormed the Capitol on January 6, 2021. They understand the threat facing their homeland, and they have no hesitation about wading into war and doing what they can to defend Ukraine. There’s a possibility that none of them will survive, and they understand that. However, they also recognize that some things are bigger than themselves.
We’re incredibly fortunate in this country. No American alive today has never faced the reality of another country invading us, and we almost certainly never will. Our biggest problems are things like the price of gas, which we whine about incessantly, even though it’s still cheaper than almost anywhere in the world. We complain about shortages of toilet paper and other “necessities” because we’re just that privileged.
We’ve never had to flee our homes under artillery fire that’s turning our neighborhood and possibly our home to rubble. We’ve never seen people die horribly right in front of us or streets lined with corpses, horribly twisted and disfigured by death in war. We’ve never seen the aftermath of a mortar shell landing in a crowded marketplace.
Nor have we ever been forced to become refugees, fleeing to safety without food and water, scavenging and scrounging for whatever we can find to stay alive. Yet that has been the daily reality for untold thousands of Ukrainian civilians. It’s no overstatement to say that we lead a privileged and insulated life. That’s certainly not a bad thing, but it can lead to a lack of perspective. The life we enjoy here in America is the exception, not the rule. We’ve had almost a quarter-millennium of peaceful transitions of power, something unprecedented in world history. That said, it’s not our birthright. We can’t rest on our laurels and assume that because it’s always been this way, it will always continue as it has been.
Having lived and worked in two different war zones, I can attest to the upheaval and trauma of Ukrainians today. Advancing armies don’t often stop to sort out civilians from combatants, and the Russian military has proven too willing to target civilians. As a result, fear of what they might face has forced more than two million Ukrainians (almost five percent of the country’s population) from their home. Almost half of the refugees are children.
People understand that being a civilian is no protection from the ravages of war, and that remaining in Ukraine may be a death sentence as the Russian army advances.
We should be thankful that America has never come under direct attack. I’ve seen what war does up close and personal. I’ve seen endless miles of destroyed homes. And I’ve heard stories from civilians that I’ve sworn I’ll never repeat because they’re too horrible to contemplate. In addition to what I saw and heard, I learned things about humanity that I wish I hadn’t.
Most Americans can’t begin to comprehend the human toll of the war in Ukraine- and they should be grateful for that. But, unfortunately, too many also fail to grasp their good fortune and privilege. Thus the complaints about gas and food prices. While I can understand their frustrations, I’d challenge Americans to spend a day in a refugee camp and then tell me it hasn’t changed their perspective on their life and situation.
Sure, paying more for gas and groceries is unpleasant. No one wants to do that. But we should all consider our great good fortune that we don’t hear the boom of artillery and counting the seconds to gauge how close the impact will be. We still have roofs over our heads and are secure in the knowledge that no one’s going to drop a mortar into our living room.
My challenge to anyone reading this is to take some time today to consider just how fortunate you are. If you have children, hug them and be grateful they’re safe from the atrocities of war. Take a moment to be thankful that you can go about your life without fear of random death raining down up you without warning. If you believe in God, send up a prayer or two for Ukrainians and those who’ve had no choice but to flee. They’re in greater peril than you can begin to imagine.
Because war isn’t healthy for children and other living things.
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