While I am struggling with not knowing what I can do to help the Ukrainian people in their trial by fire with Russia and Satan himself, Vladimir Putin, I have been praying fervently for them and hope, in some small way, that my financial contribution through Lutheran World Relief and a small candle company in Door County, Wisconsin will help make their country better, brighter, and safer. It snowed again last night, and I’m seeing pristine white covering my yard. My heart goes out to all who are walking in the Ukrainian snow, bearing down on feet that must be close to frost bite, and crying for the strength to make it to Poland, Moldau, Hungary, or Romania. I remember a statement from my third book, God Plants Seeds; “You can always come home.” I pray that the Ukrainian people may one day return home to re-build that which was violently taken from them. Once again, I hear the words of Pope John Paul II; “NO MORE WAR!”
I have finished a book entitled, In the Shelter: Finding a Home in the World, written by Padraig O Tuama. He is a student of how we use words to convey everything about ourselves to a world that is not always a friendly, loving place. As a theologian, he believes that the glory of God is found in us when we live a full life. He posed a very interesting question. “If you were to write the story of your life, what would the first sentence be?” (Page 44) Mine would be this sentence. I came into the world singing a beautiful “Ah!” while resting on my mother’s breast. Like Ignatius of Loyola, I use imagination in my prayers, and my inner life can be pictured as an ocean’s shoreline because that’s where my mother and I survived a huge wave that knocked us both down, while we were holding our hands together. My home, my soul, has always been beside my mother, no matter how hard life has gotten.
As Augustine of Hippo said, “Hope has two lovely daughters: anger and courage. Anger at the way things are and courage to change them.” (Page 145) I am angry that the world continually faces war and tyrants such as Putin and that one of the world’s biggest problems is that not every nation has the will nor the financial ability to fight countries like Russia. It’s as though we say, “Never Again!” while allowing the next Holocaust to take place. Although I admire the courage of President Zelensky to stand and fight for his country, he cannot be the only person fighting for his nation’s freedom. The world needs to find the courage and the means to stand beside him against an empire that has never cared about people.
The violent actions by Russia to overthrow the Ukrainian government and its people is pure sin, and it is Russia’s “addiction to being less than themselves” (Page 175) that is causing the nation to covet what is not theirs to take. Ever since the Berlin Wall came down across Europe, Russia has been coveting its original satellite countries as though they were slaves and have no rights to freedom. Vladimir Putin is but another dictator in a long line of brutal Russian dictators who will stop at nothing to destroy democracies around the world. The elements of sin, “the capacity to blame, to avoid responsibility, to throw another into the fire so that you don’t burn,” (Page 177) are very much a part of why Russia wants her “properties” back. To hold the world as a hostage to the possibility of nuclear war and to suggest that your country will use biological warfare against anyone who is unfriendly towards you shows how evil Putin really is.
Language and hope are the daughters of sin. “Language to confess the awful truth and hope that we might move, however slowly, toward change.” (Page 189) Russia can’t stand playing “second fiddle” to the United States and will not negotiate with those who are helping the Ukraine. The United States, as well as other NATO nations, are trying to offer help for the defense of the Ukraine. As Adam Phillips said, “Hope is a song sung when everything else says you shouldn’t be singing. Hope is joy. Hope is a testimony that says, “Even if it doesn’t come true, I will live like it might. Hope is what helps us survive.” (Page 192) As a musician tied to the cultures of these Eastern European nations by being the daughter of a first-generation Hungarian mother, I hope and pray that the people of the Ukraine will once again hear “The Ukrainian Bell Carol” not just at Christmas but throughout the year.
Every individual and every nation puts their own spin on this horrendous war between the Ukraine and Russia, but what is significant about this situation is that “we do not see things as they are; we see them as we are.” (The Talmud-Page 249) We see these two nations as either good or evil. I see the Ukraine as good and courageous; I see Russia as evil and brutal. When this unprovoked war comes to an end, hopefully soon, the Ukrainian people, its children, its elderly, and its sick and handicapped will have suffered grievously. They will need all of the hope and love that we can give them to re-build their nation. We, as a united world, must say, “NO MORE WAR!” No nation on the earth should have to face weapons of mass destruction ever again, and our children should be able to be children, not pawns in any dictator’s warped mind. And most of all, all of us should realize that the freedoms of one nation are the freedoms worth fighting for in the entire world.
The violent story of this unprovoked war is changing each day, but it will never be finalized unless man begins to realize the power of communication, of words, and of all the positive qualities that faith, hope, and love bring to our lives through Jesus Christ. Only when the nations of the world put faith, hope, and love into their relationships will we all be able to return home, the home that rests in each and everyone of our hearts, the home that provides the “Ah” in our voices. May the Lord shine His face on the people of the Ukraine and this world; may peace be the final home for the planet.
Anna Hartt
