There is no avoiding seeing or hearing about the destructive, distressing, and tragic war between Ukraine and Russia. It’s hard for me to get my mind around the enormity of the horror. That being noted, I have a new perspective on this war that gives me a perhaps hopeful way to understand this terrible situation.
I heard someone say recently that the conflict will not grow beyond its current boundaries (territory, weapons employed), or not appreciably. The reason? Too many people in the world simply do not want this to happen. I knew, as soon as I heard this, that this is true. But why? I didn’t understand why I felt this as soon as I heard it. Why do so many people, me included, not want this war, and certainly not for it to expand?
Soon after, I heard the words of an American astronaut and the words of a Russian cosmonaut, both on the space station, saying that there is simply no talk of politics during the missions. One spoke of looking down at the earth and seeing how vulnerable and small it looked. And that there are no boundary lines visible from space. All land is continuous, the thin atmosphere encloses all areas. The oceans and seas spread out to touch the lands. The earth, seen from space, is a beautiful, miraculous whole.
My epiphany is that almost everyone alive now has seen photographs, taken from space, of our planet. I wonder if this image in now embedded in our consciousness. We have seen our singular planet, where we all live, suspended in space. Another friend pointed out that along with that perception, in the past few years we have realized that the challenge of climate change is a global phenomenon. She also said, COVID has been and continues to be another global challenge. We are all in this together.
The horror of a territorial war seems, along with the horrific destruction, so anachronistic. So 20th century, so 19th century! I believe that it is a throwback about unfinished trauma from the past, but that’s another topic.
And we must live today, heal today. And think of global care, of the earth and for each other. I remember my grandmother’s plea for an interdependence day. I now add, one that includes all aspects of our lives on this most precious planet we call Earth.
