State of Affairs

It’s easy to be angry about high gas prices, it’s a lot harder to reclaim freedom. Say what you will about the shutdown of 2020 and masks, but at least – as Americans – we haven’t had to worry about bombs being dropped on our houses. We haven’t had to worry about our neighborhoods being levelled by Russian bombs and not sure if our family, our friends, our neighbors are still alive. It’s easy to be angry about high gas prices, but our grandparents and great-grandparents could suffer through the prices and brutality of Hitler to secure freedom for our ungrateful selves. We can do the same for our children and grandchildren.

The last three weeks have been brutal. Forget the pains of COVID, the pains of war are far more brutal. I pray every day for Ukraine, I thank them as the first line of defense, protecting Democracy.

President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine is a hero. He is an unexpected and staunch defender of freedom and Democracy. While the US and our companies do their best to isolate the vicious Russian nation, Ukrainian men, women, boys and girls are dying to ensure that Europe, and the Americas do not lose our Democracies.

God bless the heroes of Democracy. God bless the champions of Ukraine.

The world has forever been altered, but not in the way many – including myself – had thought it would. Perhaps I’m a cynic, but I was afraid that Russia’s invasion of Ukraine would usher in a new era of authoritarianism. Populism had been on the rise since 2016, and hit a peak on January 6, 2021 with the insurrection at the United States Capitol. Since then, Democracies across the globe, especially in vulnerable nations, were overthrown by military juntas. I was terrified that Russia’s invasion of Ukraine would usher in a new era where serf-lords would dictate the world order.

Instead, the Rules-Based-International-Order established by our great-grandparents held. Under US leadership, NATO held strong. In a US-led coordinated effort, nations that comprise the Free World began to levy sanctions on the Russian economy, and almost overnight, the Russian economy buckled. Their economy holds today because they refuse to open their strategic markets, knowing that the moment those markets open, the economy will collapse.

I do not believe anyone in the world thought NATO would stand this strong.

It is thanks to the leadership from the United States that NATO has stood strong, that our Eastern European allies have not had to struggle in the face of Russian aggression. It is thanks to a coordinated effort to arm Ukraine – who is not an ally of the United States or NATO, but is a Democracy – that the country has been able to defend itself from Russia’s military onslaught.

The world order has shifted, though. The US remains supreme, leader of the Free World. What has changed is the threat level to Africa. Many people do not realize that a large portion of Africa receives its grain from Ukraine, sustaining a large portion of the population. In just the few weeks of Putin’s War, parts of Africa have begun to run out of food. In the Tigray region of Ethiopia, the new famine is exacerbating an ongoing genocide.

It's easy to ask, ‘Why do you care about something happening on the other side of the globe?’ The truth is this: As Americans we are privileged, and if we wish to safeguard this privilege, we must defend Democracy and freedom. Murder assaults the human conscious. War betrays the right to humanity. To maintain our privilege and protect humanity, we must make ourselves citizens of conscious and work to protect humanity’s most basic right to freedom and liberty. Democracy protects freedom and liberty. We must defend Democracy.

It has been a hard three weeks of war. We remain at the precipice of history. With Russia now asking their partners in Beijing for assistance, the coming Summer may be one of strife.

We are Americans. While life may become hard for us here, we are blessed and privileged to not be under the threat of war. We are Americans, and we will suffer for the blessings of freedom. Our grandparents could do it. So can we. It is time to stop complaining and start appreciating our freedom, no matter the cost.