In the setting of the insane ex-KGB dictator’s invasion of a neighbouring democratic country, there have plenty of both disturbing and inspiring stories. But among the images of armoured vehicles and camouflage-clad combatants brandishing weapons, this was the one that took me out this morning–ordinary Polish citizens, mothers, sisters and grandmothers donated supplies to help the arriving Ukranian refugee families care for their children.
I’ve been brushing up on my Eastern European history, politics and geography. I lay awake thinking of other Soviet and Russian-inspired invasions–Czechoslovakia, Hungary and more recently Syria. I found this article, Stay Calm, America in the Atlantic detailing the very history I needed. I needed to understand more about what NATO should and shouldn’t do. And as we are overwhelmed with opinions from various sources it’s important to know who wrote what and why. And for a little lighter reading, here is a satire from McSweeney’s about that who is that guy on the internet?
Meanwhile, it turns out that Chrystia Freeland, our Deputy Prime Minister is of Ukrainian heritage and speaks Ukrainian and Russian in addition to English, French and Italian. After launching her career in journalism as a Ukraine-based freelance correspondent for the Financial Times, The Washington Post, and The Economist,
Ms. Freeland has written two books: Sale of the Century: The Inside Story of the Second Russian Revolution (2000); and Plutocrats: The Rise of the New Global Super-Rich and the Fall of Everyone Else (2012). More reading for me.
And why didn’t I know any of that before? That’s my inattention to civics and the operations of our Democracy in Canada.
This could lead me to a rant about the “Freedom Convoy” and their trespasses on fellow citizens’ liberties. Did you know the average air horn produces at least 125 dB of sound which is much higher than the 85 dB associated with acoustic nerve injury? And how about the inadequate understanding of how our Canadian democracy works? Is that a failure of our primary and secondary education system or an effect of amplification of un-democratic activities of our neighbours to the south? But I digress. If you want to read more check out this article in The Walrus.
We are all tired and morally injured. I now flinch when I hear an air horn or see a vehicle displaying a Canadian flag.
But instead, without forgetting the Syrians, it is time to think about the Ukrainians and our Canadian Ukrainians. In the spirit of creativity and the sounds of words, I offer this word cloud of my thoughts while I find something more concrete and effective to do. And did you know that the yellow in the Ukrainian flag represent wheat and the blue, the sky?
