I was there and I know what happened not because I saw, but because I lived it. Hell, I might even still be living it now and that might be the best thing that happened or the worst.
Perspective is a funny thing and the history of us is always subject to that. You call it revision and or inaccurate and I tell you the same finger you point at me is pointing back at you.
Except mine are far bigger, don’t even need to measure from the palm to the tip of my middle finger to know that. Call me short, or call me average height but we all know these hands could fit a larger fellow.
Not that any of this matters, it is just the silly stuff we toss around for reasons no one can explain. Might be fifty something but sometimes it is like being 17 all over.
Cuz if life experience has taught us anything it is that we’re all just making it up as we go along.
So maybe some people try to impose a gag order on those who would speak about things they prefer not be spoken about. Maybe they can’t gag you but that is because they don’t know how and I do.
Life isn’t always about who the smartest or most resourceful is. Sometimes it is about the people who keep pushing forward be it sunny, or sleet filled skies.
Don’t have to be the air sucker to know that either.
Time Is A Thief
Don’t have to look very hard in my family tree to see our connection to Ukraine. My Great-Great Grandparents came from a town near the border.
I didn’t go real hard on trying to figure out where the lines crossed in the 19th century versus now. Since I haven’t tracked every one down it is possible there might still be some there, but that’s speculation.
Could make a case for saying we’re all gone but that is neither here nor there. I know people who left the Ukraine during the last 40 years and I know others who have traveled there.
That shouldn’t be the measure of caring or not caring, personal connections to a place. We should care based upon our joint and collective humanity.
But if you want to effect change sometimes that connection is of paramount importance.
As a Jewish man of a certain age who knows a little bit about history it is impossible not to be concerned. Putin talks about ridding Ukraine of Nazis knowing the president of the Ukraine is Jewish. There is a good chance this could be very ugly for my people.
Alexander Vindman came to the U.S. from the Ukraine. You could easily call him an American hero for his service to the U.S. but I imagine some of this has to be tough to watch/see/hear. Been following some of his tweets and Kasparov on this.
And I have been thinking about the Ukranians I used to play basketball with back in LA. Good guys, have to imagine this is hard for them.
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Turned on Young Turks and traveled through time to junior high and then to 2004 or so. Nodded my head at the part about time being a thief because even though I understood what it was supposed to mean I never got it like I do now.
It felt a bit like a gut punch and I walked through the kingdom thinking about what it meant and what I wanted it to mean.
Can’t go backwards but I can go forwards and do more than leave a few inscriptions in the castle. That is the good thing about being able to hear the tick-tock of the clock and the bells.
It can be the clarion call that moves you to take action. It can be the difference between just floating down a river and paddling.
Might not get all of the answers you want, but you for damn sure won’t get any if you don’t go looking for them. Some things aren’t found in the card catalog of libraries that still use the Dewey Decimal system.
Nor are they necessarily found by running a regular search online. You have to pull back the curtain and walk inside.
That is what makes life exciting. You never know as much as you want to but if you are willing to put a little effort in you can go all sorts of interesting places you might not ever experience.
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