Russia invaded Ukraine Today
My heart feels heavy, and my head feels worried. I Pray for all involved.
I am 56 years old. My entire life I have heard of, and read of, the fears of Russia bringing war to the USA or another region.
I remember the news of “The end of the Cold War.”
I remember watching the news and how President Ronald Reagan declared “Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!” (Reagan gave this speech calling for the General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, Mikhail Gorbachev, to open the Berlin Wall, which had separated West and East Berlin since 1961) Google reference.
I woke up this morning to learn that Russia invaded Ukraine by land, air and sea. Russian boots were on the Ukraine ground.
I was shocked. Perhaps because I thought that President Putin of Russia was just postering the past month or so. Perhaps because my ancestors were from Kyiv Ukraine.
I was raised hearing my Grandparents talk in Ukrainian. My Great Aunt was a Minister at the Ukrainian Assembly of God in Westbury NY back in the 1950s. I still have the Ukrainian songbooks from that church. I have the Ukrainian school books that were from the 1930s. I have Ukrainian Bibles.
Now Russia has taken over the grounds of the Chernobyl Nuclear Plant. This is scary – there is nuclear waste still there, the site where there was a nuclear disaster back in April of 1986.
It’s an uneasy feeling – war always is, but for someone my age --- we were always ‘warned’ that if Russian forces were to start a war, there would be unprecedented endings.
I miss what seemed like a more peaceful world – I miss the world without Internet – I miss the innocence of childhood - I miss playing outside until the streetlights came on – I miss family gatherings of my childhood, when that was who you hung out with, where you went on vacation, the entire family gathered and sat around the table drinking coffee and eating non-stop as us children were told to go ‘lose ourselves’ outside, because the adults were talking.
I am praying for the people of the Ukraine. I am praying for the people of Russia. I am praying more than I ever had. I am praying for Peace.
