War in Ukraine

The Ukrainians are fighting a war with  limited military capability - a war they did not start. Their lives are in turmoil as they experience traumatic loss all around them - loss of life, loss of their homes, loss of security. Yet they move forward with hope - fighting against the odds, singing their national anthem, making Molotov cocktails, acting courageously in a dire time, not giving up.

What can we do to help, and to honor them? We can be informed about what is happening as a responsibility. We can accept that what happens in Ukraine  will have repercussions all over the world, including taking care of Ukrainian refugees, and experiencing the global fallout from financial sanctions against Russia.

On a day to day basis, we can be kind to one another, patient with one another, accepting of one another, as a way to spread brotherhood and sisterhood on our shores. The pandemic has taught us that we are all in this together. War teaches us that lesson too.

We can learn a sense of  humility. Wars in countries that are not like "us" or aren't modern like "us" don't hit home the way this war has. Think of the Middle East, Afghanistan, and Africa. Yet we are all the same.

The national flower of Ukraine is the sunflower. We can plant or buy sunflowers as a way to remember. In our apartment, we have a banner of a sunflower in our window. This helps us to remember, and to express our solidarity with Ukraine, and to peoples all over the world who are experiencing the trauma of war.