We've had some lovely weather, mild and sunny, and my neighbors and I are crawling out of our dens to welcome the coming of spring. We're in for more snow, of course, but right now we are blinking at the sunlight and taking our dogs out for a good airing. Lucy spends the majority of her walks sniffing at the ground. She can't get enough of it. Knowing how important their smell sense is to them, I indulge her let her take her time. I turn my face to the sun and just wait. Of course this all comes with the heartbreak of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. I'm limiting my news intake because it is so goddamn awful. Then I begin to whine about MY issues sand realize that I sound like an asshole.
Truth be told, I would lie beside that Ukrainian great grandmother and take rifle training. I'm old, I've lived my life. I'd be satisfied going out taking some Russian soldiers with me. Did you see that 40 mile column of Russian tanks and armored vehicles sitting on the roads to Kiev? I thought, "why doesn't some country fly over and bomb the shit out of them?" Because, say the 'experts,' it would start WW III. Perhaps a nuclear exchange. I've not studied war, and I'd be a terrible strategist. I just want it all to end and Russian to return home with its tail between its legs. But that's not going to happen.
I'm imagining all kinds of global crises, like stock markets falling, millions of refugees, countless lives lost. I really wasn't going to talk about this, really. Spring is almost here and I want to delight in a sunny day where the birds sing and the blooms send out their wonderful smells. I'm spent. Two years of virtual isolation and now this. No matter what I am scared about, it's nothing compared to the Ukrainian people. I wish that Russian dictator could be assassinated. I'm not the "Peace, Love, and Doughnuts" person you may think I am.
I'm avoiding the news. I read headlines and then I look away. We never turn on the TV. The world is falling apart. It's better to just get some sunlight and warmth, let Lucy roll around in the dirt, and dream of better days.
ReplyDeleteI had the same thought about how we've just finally breathed a sigh of relief about the pandemic and then Russia decides it needs to rattle our brains. What a world, what a world.
and it's probably going to get a lot worse. Ain't I a ray of sunshine?
DeleteLike you I keep fantasizing about the Mayor of Kyiv (former heavyweight boxing champion Vitali Klitschko) giving Putin a bloody nose. My pacifism only goes so far.
ReplyDeleteYes! I'm surprised by the violent feelings that come up for me around this whole thing.
DeleteI can't imagine how all this ends. The Russian soldiers don't want to be there either. How can one madman hold the whole word to ransom like this? It's insane.
ReplyDeleteAlas, if planes from a NATO country (ie, virtually the whole of mainland Europe plus the UK) were to bomb those columns of Russian vehicles it would be, as you say, tantamount to declaring WW3. And since Putin has put his armed forces on nuclear alert he is suggesting (though he could be bluffing) he's prepared to go all the way to the ultimate deterrent if need be.
ReplyDeleteYou use the phrase "nuclear exchange" but a more accurate term would be MAD (Mutually Assured Destruction) which is a concise way of saying everybody loses. Ignoring the detail of what's happening in and around Kjiv means you may miss tiny fragments of good-ish news. When Putin did declare the nuclear alert he had himself filmed, delivering the command to his senior generals. None of them looked particularly happy and perhaps they may engineer a military coup and send Old Vlad off to his dacha, preferably with a .45 slug through the temple.
One other plus factor. The Russian people have been continuously misled by the government about what's happening in Ukraine (a bit like you, had you limited your news intake to the pronouncements of your former president). But the much-maligned internet is compensating for these lies and more are getting a handle on the truth.. Whether this will lead anywhere I don't know; there have been some little demos.
I note you live in ski country, once one of my obsessions until old age overtook me. You don't see many octogenarian skiers and I'm nearer ninety than eighty. Ignore everything I've said above, I could well be senile. But some guff about ski-ing wouldn't go amiss.
I did start taking singing lessons aged 80 and they have proved to be a life saver. Does your interest in music extend to Schubert, et al? No? Ah well.