In one week I don’t know if I have ever been this depressed and inspired at the same time. What Putin is doing is beyond comprehension. Destroying a country, killing so many people.. where this is going is just an abysmal pit.. Threatening the world with a nuclear holocaust… When he was attacking the nuclear power station, fear gripped me for Ukraine, Europe and possibly our home in case of a nuclear strike.
At the same time, I have seen such amazing humanity.
Friends of a cousin hosting elderly parents who have covid who are heading to the border.
An old friend with a mother in Kyiv offering any of my friends who are in Kyiv food and shelter if they need it, getting help to the trapped grandmother of another friend.
A friend in Berlin said that if I have any relatives, they are welcome to stay with her, her husband, and their newborn, and if they are going anywhere else, she has contacts.
A high school friend is leaving the comfort of San Francisco with his Ukrainian wife to the Ukrainian border to help people with supplies and drive them to safety.
A Rabbi who answered a call to help another friend whose sister and kids are stuck at a border.
So many people have reached out asking about friends and family and offered support, and each one I appreciate as it warmed my heart in this tough and stressful time.
Russia has shown that there is pure evil out there which with enough fear and lies can drive people to commit horrible crimes.
I’m glad to see an equal and opposite reaction from much of the world. Sure not every nation is helping and choosing this moment to be their best, but all the people who did something, will not have to explain themselves for what they didn’t do.
Russians are at a time when their actions could decide their fate for the next century. If they defeat Putin, they will be heroes. But if Russia and Russians will take the mantle from Germany. It would not surprise me if, for the next 50 years or more, it will be Putin and Russians who will become the face of evil, ignorance, and war crimes. We will hear excuses: we didn’t know, we followed orders. And just as with Germany, no one will care. The world will be divided into those who committed crimes, those who acted, and those who didn’t.
If you’d like to help the effort or refugees, please follow this link. It has approved organizations that are active in Ukraine.
