I have to go to work in a few minutes but something is weighing on my heart.
You may feel like the atrocities, the crimes against humanity, the war in Ukraine, is very far away. Maybe you think it doesn't have anything to do with you or your life.
I say that any time you have a Hitler in power, committing genocide, it has to do with all of us, and all of us have to choose: do we turn and look away, or do we stand up for our fellow human beings and what is right?
However, what I just wrote above may not faze you. Maybe it isn't personal enough. How about this?
I personally have two friends who both were born in Ukraine. Both came here to America when they were young. One was brought here when she was very, very young, just a tiny child. She is one of the brightest, most talented people I know, yet what stands out the most about her as a person is how very kind she is. When she first met my dear, gentle dog, she was so movingly loving to him. Maybe she sensed that he had been through a lot as a puppy, as she had when she was a baby and tiny child, too. Whatever the reason, she is one of the kindest people I know, and she just has that "old soul" feel emanating from her, yet she is still very young. She has a bright future--very bright--here in the United States, where she has been for most of her life.
But she had a half brother still in Ukraine, as well as a sister and a very young nephew. Here is what has happened to them since Putin began his genocide. Her half brother went to the front lines to defend Ukraine and try to stop this madness. He has been killed. Her sister and nephew have had to make the decision to leave their country, their home, and everything and everyone they know, to flee and try to stay alive. They have now, with a lot of help from very good people, made it to Poland. My friend is traveling there from the US to get them and bring them here.
Is this personal enough to make those of you who are not speaking up against this genocide realize that we all have to? I spoke up when Putin committed war crimes in Syria, though I did not personally know anyone impacted. I said and wrote incessantly about the need for the US to open our doors to the refugees. I say that again now, and have been, re Ukraine. The Ukraine genocide is in progress and, I strongly believe, it is each of our, and all of our, duty to do whatever we can to stop it.
I was not alive during the Holocaust. But my relatives, my recent ancestors, were. Emphasis on were, for the ones in Germany. Had I been alive then, and in Germany, I very likely would have been exterminated in a gas chamber. Had I been in the United States, as my grandparents were, and my mom was as a child then, I would hope I would have used my voice to speak up. I'm alive now and I'm using it for my Ukrainian brothers and sisters, as humanity is really all one big family. It is also personal, when I think of my two friends, who are both two of the dearest souls imaginable. Think of all the souls who are trapped there. Don't be silent. Let's all use our voices.
