You might notice that the home page for the site has a new piece of vector art - a girl wrapped in a Ukrainian flag. Adding this was one of the million+ things I've been trying to find time to do for the site - in among the million+ things I've been trying to learn to do those things. (Seriously - as user friendly as this platform is, there is a STEEP learning curve here and sometimes I feel like I'm in way over my head...but I digress).
I've watched over the last year as a segment of citizens in the US have begun to switch alliances and are now supporting the invaders. I admit, this concerns me on so many levels. I am not about to launch into a political rant (I do most of that on TikTok). I will share something about my experience, since that is what got me to where I am as who I am.
I grew up in a military home and moved ever year (whether country to country, state to state, island to island, or house to house). We were never stationed in Europe (to my great disappointment), but a lot of my friends had because we were all living somewhat nomadically. As I moved into middle and high school there is something we all knew - what our base had that was vital to the US defense, where we were on the target list for the Soviet Union, and how long we'd have from the time a nuke was launched, as well as how long from the time we would be notified. That last bit was a matter of minutes and on base schools didn't bother with silly under the desk drills or anything so silly - the things that are supposed to make you feel safe in a crisis even if you know they won't actually do anything. As a solid GenX member my heart hurts for what young people in the US face in their public schools. I stand with GenZ every time they are trying to make sweeping change that so many from my generation want.
When I lived in Hawaii, on Hickam Air Force Base, the buildings all had damage from the attack on Pearl Harbor that provoked us to finally join in WW2. There was, in all things, evidence and lessons of how fragile both life, and our democracy, really are.
Even though we lived with that knowledge, and despite Red Dawn, we weren't afraid of an invasion on our shores. So when I saw Russian troops invading Ukraine I was outraged.
I immediately wondered what I could do to help - me, in my life in the US, with limited funds. Thankfully others were wondering the same questions and as people figured things out we began sharing them and doing them and it feels great to help in a practical way. I'll share what we did in the next post. Stay tuned.
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