Nearly 4,800 miles away, war. I know very little about foreign affairs. It doesn’t really matter what I think about Putin or what I think about what’s going on… or, I should say, my thoughts matter as much as buildings turning blue and yellow and people changing their Facebook pictures to say they stand with Ukraine. It all feels so hollow. The only people standing with Ukraine, really risking it all, are the people of Ukraine. They are in this fight alone. They are, and will be, the ones dying.
I have been doom-scrolling a lot these last few days. The headlines are almost all the same. World denounces madman Putin. Anyone who starts a war should be denounced. That said, I think it’s too easy to dismiss Putin as some sort of evil dictator (even if he is). One nation aggressively taking what they think is theirs. This is human history. This is America’s early westward expansion. This is British, Dutch, Spanish colonialism. This is every empire that has ever existed… Greek, Roman, Persian, Mongol. The winners have statues built in the town square, the losers are vilified. Andrew Jackson, who wanted to wipe out the Indians, is on our currency. How is Putin worse than that? Another madman in a series of madmen. Maybe when we stop honoring soldiers and “war heroes,” madmen will stop thinking of war as glorious. Collectively, we have a chance to use this as an opportunity to look in the mirror and think about our own wars of aggression. Collectively, we could choose peace. We won’t.
I am a pacifist – I’m not sure I will ever understand war other than the manifestation of men trying to take a little more for themselves, their country, their people, their glory. As much as I don’t want to believe it, I suspect, this is human nature. I know we’re capable of doing better. Human history suggests otherwise. The stories coming out of Ukraine are heartbreaking. It makes writing about the dog being a pain in the ass, or the stupid snow, or the daily grind seem ridiculous. And yet, that, to some extent is what I have and know – my minor inconveniences half a world away from the night terrors of bombs and death.