THANKFUL FRIDAY

I’ve been staying at Heather’s since Tuesday because I was dog sitting for her while she travelled to Virginia to finalize housing and paperwork for her new job. Tuesday evening, we had dinner with another former coworker before Heather walked me through the details of feeding times for both beagles and medication times for one beagle. She left the house sometime around 4:30 AM the next morning and I spent Wednesday evening alone with two beagles in a mostly packed up house. One would think that with all that quiet, I might have used the time to work on some personal projects. Instead I languished on the couch, idly scratching beagle heads while watching season three of Search Party.

I woke Thursday morning to snow and the news that Russia had invaded the Ukraine. Then I pondered what this means for us as a country, as well as what the impacts are going to be globally. These events are the ingredients of a world war, but having the ingredients doesn’t necessarily mean we end up baking that cake. Looking at the images coming out of the Ukraine makes it all seem so surreal. These are metropolitan cities much like New York City or Chicago being bombed, with people like you and I being displaced from their homes. We are not talking about small villages here or a less affluent nation. Many a Nobel Prize winning scientist have come from the Ukraine. I think the concept of what this might remotely be like for these people is completely lost in this country. The destruction of our towns and cities come from natural disasters. Attacks come from within, like Texas where my partner and myself could be investigated for child abuse because we support his trans child. Attacks come from our neighbors, not invading countries.

The last battle fought on American soil was in the Aleutian Islands during World War II. Before that, it was the Civil War. Today’s Americans do not know the consequences of war unless they had a family member/friend die in Iraq or Afghanistan. We live in a bubble. Yes, sometimes horrific stuff happens inside that bubble, but war happens outside of it. This makes us very fortunate and I am grateful for this privilege. For this, my mantra this week is a simple one:

May we not forget to have gratitude for our privilege by doing what we can to support those who have been displaced by war.

I found this article about meaningful ways to help the Ukraine to be very useful: 8 Meaningful Ways You Can Help Ukraine. There are a number of links provided in that article for making donations.