The brutality of the Russian attack on Ukraine is appalling. While the war is a world away from Columbus in terms of miles, there are many in our community with loved ones caught up in a needless and senseless conflict. I’ve been moved by the brave resistance of the Ukrainian people. Their courage and sacrifice serve as a reminder to us of what it means to be a patriot and what true sacrifice is.
The Ukrainians are fighting to preserve their nation — a democracy that had not shown aggression to its neighbors. They are fighting to save their homes and their neighbors. Too often, we throw words like patriot and freedom around without really thinking about what they truly mean.
Vladimir Putin is a monster. If I wrote those words in Russia, my life wouldn’t be worth a plug nickel. Personally, I don’t understand some of the fascination or adulation that some people have for him.
To risk stating the obvious, Putin is a brutal dictator ruling over Russia with an iron fist, refusing to relinquish power. The regime’s primary goal is to loot and steal from their own country. He murders his political opponents without losing a wink of sleep. He labeled the press, a central element to our functioning democracy, an enemy of the people. Putin has routinely lied to the people, using the media to spread disinformation.
He invaded Crimea and Chechnya. He armed and supported rebels who shot down Malaysia Airlines Flight 17, killing all on board. And Putin controls one of the most powerful armies in the world with a vast nuclear arsenal at the ready.
Despite all of that, Ukrainians are willing to fight and die for their country. They sacrifice their lives for their friends and neighbors, their community.
To paraphrase John Prine, it is easy to slap a flag decal on our bumper. We call someone a patriot because they go to a fireworks display or wrap themselves in the flag. It is something else to pick up a rifle and stare down a tank or a legion of Russian special forces. I can’t imagine the guts that takes.
They are reminding us what it means to sacrifice for our communities. Over the past few years, we have been arguing with each over about what sacrifices we are willing to make for each other during the pandemic. Ukrainians are willing to sacrifice everything. That puts the minor inconveniences and bothers of our daily lives in perspective.
Russian protesters are also giving the world an amazing example of courage and sacrifice. They know Putin has lied to them. Thousands have been arrested. Who knows if we will ever see them again. They are risking their lives for peace.
I am not under any illusion that Ukrainian forces will be able to defeat the Russian army. But as we have seen in Vietnam, Iraq and Afghanistan, occupying a country can be expensive, costing blood and treasure.
There is another lesson from our own history that we see in the heroic defense of Ukraine. In a speech on the eve of our Civil War, Abraham Lincoln told an audience, “Let us have faith that right makes might, and in that faith, let us, to the end, dare to do our duty.” Despite the odds, the people of Ukraine know that right makes might.
