When I have a bad day, such as yesterday; I had an instance where one of my flexi-pipes, under my sink in the bathroom, came apart spraying water everywhere, I calmed down by reminding myself it could be way worse.
I could live in Eastern Ukraine.
I really can’t imagine a scenario, like what is happening in that country, especially seeing all the damage which is being done to so many towns and villages.
My little pipe coming apart can’t even compare to having a bomb hit my house and losing everything I have gathered over the years.
And that is, if I don’t get injured.
As the Russian army has retreated from Kharkov region, I am reading accounts of terrible destruction and torture of people who were caught in the area by the occupying forces.
I read about a female medic who had a body camera on her. She recorded some horrific scenes.
Reading about the torture and death where the medic was held, was not easy.
When she recounted a seven year old dying in her arms from the injuries by being tortured, I was very crestfallen.
A seven year old!
What could he have possibly done to warrant what happened to him? How could people stand by and let him die for lack of medical attention?
It is hard to find anything redeeming about Russia right now and that is incredibly sad to me.
I have friends who are Russian and I have worked side by side with Russians too.
My memories are excellent of all.
One friend in particular, Katia, was someone I use to talk to once a month or so. I helped her launch the Russian vodka, for the company she worked, for in Beijing. Not only did I have a blast hanging out with her while we did the launch but the place we did the party was this killer rooftop bar in Beijing. I worked with a couple Russian bartenders. They felt as European as a person from France or Norway.
This was several years ago.
Katia and I stayed in contact until Covid hit and then we just sort of lost touch.
I admit a few times when we talked, she was a bit pro Putin for my tastes.
But, I am American. I have no idea what it is really like to have a leader tell the American people how terrible the country is and how it needs to be made strong again. How he is the person who can do it and we, as countrymen, just have to listen and trust him.
Oh wait, maybe I do.
Yes, come to think of it, I can remember Katia telling me how the press that criticized Putin were out to hurt Russia and had their own radical agenda of hurting the country.
I guess it does sound a bit familiar to some degree.
When Putin came down hard on the band Pussy Riot, for their protest in a Russian Orthodox Church, his government had them jailed for a couple years.
I do not condone a protest in a church and I find it offensive, even if it was for a political statement for freedom.
But putting them in jail for years? It seems a bit extreme.
The song they did had elements of protest against Putin and, I guess, that was their mistake because the performance went viral on the internet.
Katia said the group deserved their sentence.
It surprised me when she said that.
She has traveled the world for years, especially Europe. Her family had a home in the country and, from what I could tell of her place in Moscow when we talked on video, it was pretty nice. She was well educated and her English is excellent.
I guess, I expected a softer view of the punishment that should have been doled out.
She told me the years, just before Putin, had been hard on many and he had not been scared to crack down on subversives.
Chechnya felt the full impact of his wrath as some residents wanted autonomy. I do understand there had been bombings in subways and other places by terrorists from Chenchya. To Russians, it probably felt good to have a leader who took control.
I know it is my American attitude, to some degree, that feels he exacted a strong price from the restive population.
The city of Grozny was rubble at one time and there were a lot of innocents that died in the process.
Katia has told me, Grozny is rebuilt and things are good there.
It would do no good to tell her there are problems with Chenchya, any more than to say to some Americans, Putin is not a genius.
I thought about calling her when Russia invaded Ukraine but I just could not bear to hear any justification of why it was happening.
I am curious to see how this all occurred from a Russian point of view, but seeing the terrified residents of Kyiv during the first few days of the war, made me pretty sure I would say something Katia would not want to hear.
With the war recently turning in favor of Ukraine, I am even more curious.
A lot of her countrymen have died for no reason and her country has done a lot of damage to a sovereign state which did them no harm.
Then there is the pain to the Russian economy.
She has to be feeling it personally.
Her brand of vodka, which is exportd to the United States, must be doing terribly in most places, except maybe China.
So, I admit to being curious about her thoughts now.
She might surprise me but honestly, I don’t think she could say anything bad about the Russian invasion over the internet.
Freedom of speech and media is not a right available in her country presently.
I am glad the Ukrainians are taking back their land these past weeks.
I look forward to the time, when I am having a bad day and I won’t say, “Well it could be worse, I could be living in eastern Ukraine.”
Even more so, I look to the day when leaders all over the worlk, like Putin and President Xi of China, stop saying they are going to make their country strong by taking away their people’s freedoms.
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