We stood by and allowed Hitler to kill millions. We allowed Trump and his crew to snatch kids away from their parents at our southern border. Have we yet to find them all?
We have said that slaughtered children is simply the price we are willing to pay to preserve guns and our government stands by again while children are exploited by the Russian government.
Yes, Biden should be demanding the return of these children, everyday. So should the leaders of NATO. So should all of us. But, we don’t. The world should be crying out. But we don’t.
I asked my Republican Rep what his red line in the sand was. What was the end for him to support gun control, to save the lives of the children of this country. What would it take for him to say, enough. No response. I didn’t expect any. He is busy heading up the new anti-woke committee in the House.
Steve, how do we change this? How do we take a stand? How do we make this government that is supposed to ensure domestic tranquillity and the blessings of liberty hear us and change directions? How do we fix this, Steve? If we are to be a shining city upon a hill...What do we do to make a difference?
The typical answer would be vote. We have. We have voted in our gerrymandered states, we have voted and voted and voted. But, here we are. And the children continue to suffer.
Adults are supposed to protect innocent children. Rather, hundreds of thousands of children are traumatized, abused, separated from their families, missing or dead, shot to death in school, raised in cult-indoctrinated MAGA families - while far too many adults who could do 'Better' are hypnotized by their phones or looking up for a balloon in the sky. This must change! We must protect the children in this country and around the world as a top priority! Thank you, Steve, for your powerful words today and I hope your video goes viral and gets to the people who make life and death decisions for children who need to be found, protected, and cared for.
Yes, Greed Kills. The Lies and polarization stoked by MAGA is leading to more gun violence, domestic violence, suicide, addiction, and trauma -much of which will play out for generations to come. Children need Love and Care. When their parents are caught up in conspiracy theories and cult-indoctrination, it is the children who will pay the biggest price, and many for the rest of their lives. Greed Kills. It must stop!
The big secret in the world of politics was about the crazies that lived amongst us. No one would dare embrace them lest they would be ousted from the good moral people in American society.
The crazy train started with Trump riding down the escalator with his trophy wife with whom he had cheated on with his previous wife whom he also cheated on with his first wife.
In the world of social media & FOX news he tweeted as a pied piper calling them out from under their rocks. THE GOP did nothing to denounce his lies, lack of morals or his corruption. Secretly they hoped he would win. Their greed knows no bounds.
Our founding fathers predicted this moment in history. They didn’t predict the numbers by which the opposing party, the GOP, would succumb to such an abuse of power.
The Republican Party has revealed its true nature. POWER & GREED at any cost.
We can never give up or give in.
I will email my Senators & Reps and ask about the Ukrainian children.
If they hear from enough of us, maybe they will consider it as benefiting themselves to actually do something about it.
It’s seems that way but I think love rules, always has, always will -corny and silly as the narcissists want to make that sound. It’s their attempt to make love powerless and thereby keep the power for themselves. Never works for long.
Shall we mount the type of activism shown around the Affordable Care Act? Ordinary people going to Representative’s and Senator’s offices in Washington and at home. It has to be done on a massive scale. ( BTW-not a day of marching but an endless stream of constituents). It has to represent all classes and races. Corporations and donors must wake up too.,
I want to know what to do to enact change as well. I advocate for voting, and we must never stop. We need to chip away at the poison in our government until it is gone. When there is enough of a majority to effect change, we then must hold politicians feet to the fire until they make the changes we demand. It's the only thing I can think of, besides continuing to educate people to reality.
When the House changed hands so did the news. And so did Twitter. I believe that most Americans absolutely know what is right and just and valuable. We know what to keep and what to let go and what we must fight for.
Our will be done. You know why? Because it is what is needed right now. It’s the solution to everything. It’s the joining of our country. My hand in yours and yours in mine -for the world’s children. Education not indoctrination.
We the people of the United States, in order to form a more perfect union, establish Justice, insure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity, do ordain and establish this constitution for the United States of America.
I think we need to find common ground with the reds. Our children are common ground. Our finances and jobs and raising a family are common ground. Food, cooking and sitting down at the dinner table is common ground. Hobbies are common ground. The blues and the reds can communicate on these everyday issues and hold tight to each other. We can drop the labels of blue and red, left and right, and be what we really are: people who struggle to maintain a good life. It’s easier together.
Im thinking (hoping) at least a few of Biden’s crew subscribe to The Warning. Meanwhile, the rest of us here can write about this, talk about it, post about it and contact agencies like Save the Children and UNICEF (with whom I worked in Africa, and they do excellent work.) The UN will hopefully also address this. The EU is currently preparing documentation on all russia’s warcrimes to get ready for a trial. Putin is their target #1, but his lackeys and minions who carry out his truly evil desires will also be rounded up.
Its better than nothing. But we all can do more.
Forward this newsletter to everyone in DC, and to all your friends. Cut n paste short excerpts and post on social media making it clear its from Steve and his substack The Warning.
Also, hang Ukrainian flags everywhere we can. I have one on my front gate. The Maga heads in congress want to give Ukraine to Putin. We need to blanket this nation in 🇺🇦 to show America will defend democracies who are invaded by sick and wicked tyrants. (Amazon has the flag. A garden flag -18”x 12” is about $9 )
Lisa Beardsly, Youre one of my favorite people online. We seem to read many of the same substacks! Would love to meet u one day, if u ever get to Santa Fe NM.
Oh Steve. You make me cry with the futility of it all. And yet you give hope with one example of one man who saw it all too, and did something incredible, maybe impossible, but he did it -something magnificent. How do we go about this ourselves? Please help. Tell me more?
I read this essay, watched & listened to Steve’s remarks and read the WaPo piece..As always with such a topic, it moves me to a place of self assessment..Learning for the first time of the humanity and bravery of Nicholas Winton back in 1938, I look at myself and say “What am I doing to make a difference?”
I’m a retired 68yr old white American man with a slight disability (though I do not claim it), for the most part living on a fixed income of mostly Social Security, insured by Medicare. That said, I know that there are those in less secure situations, I am grateful to be where I am..However, I worry every day that those benefits will be dealt away in some way by people who for all intents and purposes have total control over my personal stability..
I constantly try to think of some side hustle, and of late a regular job to help supplement my income..Yet when I consider my circumstances to these children, I feel ashamed that I have the audacity to even consider whining about what may or may not happen to me..After all, I can take action on my own behalf..
I’m frustrated and angry at the helplessness I feel, being in no position to exact change to their situation or anything having to do with Ukraine for that matter.. Angry, in my belief that the West is not doing enough to exact that very change..
Early on, not long after Putin began this atrocity nearly a year ago I sent some money to a humanitarian aid effort for the Ukrainian people, where that money went, what part of it actually did anything to aid someone in need I will never know. Alas, that small chuck of money was simply a pimple on a bulls ass in comparison to what must be done to stop this genocide..
I do not possess the Foreign Policy acumen to know what the right thing to do is..My anger and frustration is acute..Oddly, it brings to mind the following quote:
“If anything in this life is certain, if history has taught us anything, it is that you can kill anyone”
~Michael Corleone
The Godfather Part II, art imitating life..
When I look at the goings-on in the world, as I absorb the stories of mass shooting after mass shooting, I find myself arriving at this conclusion, all of the wrong people are getting killed..
'A culture that kills its children has no future,' wrote Elizabeth Bruenig in the Atlantic after Uvalde. This is life in America, month after month. If we do not care for our own, how can we care for Ukrainian children? Three of the murdered children at MSU are from Metro Detroit where I reside. Five more cling to life in a Lansing hospital. I thought about this bitter irony: many people care about the unborn child. After birth they don't give a rat's ass until they are of voting age...maybe.
As a former pediatric R.N. I think about the children of Ukraine and of the United States. They are the most undeserved, as they have only a whisper of influence.
At the beginning of the war, as I saw Ukrainians moved into the east, I knew there was the likelihood we would never see them again Most likely they’re “adopted” into Russian families. It will be part of our mission to find and reunite them at wars end. The only hope is they’re safe and not killed in retaliation to Russia’s war failures.
On the US students, are you involved in improving our students lives? Are you voting for programs that help educate and protect students. Are you helping students participate in civic life? We can support their needs by our actions. We can involve them in the solutions.
What shall we do? This group who read Steve’s brilliance and his pleading. What can we do? I will start by tweeting (sorry) about The Children. I will tweet to Biden and Musk... they probably won’t see it. I am nothing on Twitter. But maybe you can too? What else? This is maddening. Watching hell.
Yes, let's all start sharing Steve's post and video here every way we know how and writing to our representatives....and let's take to the streets if we need to. Thanks.
Taking to the streets fills my mind every day. Just walking out my door carrying a sign and speaking with the people. Anyone who has the same interest. Just so we can get people talking to each other. Many feel strongly but don’t know how to begin.
Same. Steve could be President- hello Steve, Steve, Steve, are you there Steve? We need someone who can forge a path. A path for the US and the world…… Steve, please.
History indeed seems to be repeating. Will the scale of the atrocities be allowed to gin up to that of 85 years ago when the world slept as the Nazi train began to roll? Your request of your readers, and the America people, seems to be not just to pause and understand the gravity of what's happening in Ukraine, but to understand it in terms of what we stand for as a nation. That understanding -should- affect our collective sensibility and manifest it in our votes.
Tragically, the lesson taught by the re-run of history we're watching is lost on fully half the nation. That half watches the daily re-run of American firearm slaughter with complete indifference. It's more than just indifference; It's an acceptance of the unique American horror show as a worthy price to pay for the right to bear arms. Be mindful, those lost to gun violence are the fellow citizens of those who vote to sustain the slaughter. Sustaining the murder and suicide rate is achieved by voting Republicans into office with a seeming mandate granted by those very voters, not to just maintain the level of violence, but to increase it by increasing the availability of guns while simultaneously legislating a decrease in common sense control. I would venture to say that the overwhelming majority of voters who get their Republican into office know a victim directly or are acquainted with a victim of gun violence in their community. They know the tragedy, the pain, the ruination, etc. and still what's wanted is guns everywhere, and without control.
How this relates to the current European menace is answered by asking; are those same voters who act to sustain gun violence on their neighbors likely to give one wit about violence or injustice on the other side of the globe? Will their elected Republican candidates extend that indifference and act on it by withdrawing American support of the Ukrainian army? The answer is obvious.
What a mess we're in:( If we had Critical Thinking Skills built into our education curriculums, more people would be able to distinguish fact from fiction and vote accordingly -I'd figure that, anyway. Much of the 'News' and social media algorithms are appealing to the primitive flight-fight-freeze part of our brains, intentionally, as people can be manipulated through fear and polarization -and sadly, that makes a lot of money for those who want power over others. The war in Ukraine, a global pandemic, an insurrection, a lack of trust in our institutions, lies upon lies by MAGA, one gun shooting after another, and so on -it takes a toll on people. I know so many people who are sick and depressed. I also am deeply affected by all of what is going on. Time to get out with the horses!
Oh what an excellent piece, Steve! In addition to the deeply moving "That's Life" segment, we can watch this one-hour documentary "Children Saved from the Nazis : The Story of Sir Nicholas Winton" , freely viewable at YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nT0yPjj0UqQ&t=11s and this 15-min. clip "Saving the Children" from 60 Minutes https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c0aoifNziKQ . And here's the 92 minute interview in 2013 with an aged but still very sharp Nicholas for the USC Shoah Foundation, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DIoT76X2KgM .
Timothy, Thank You for posting these important and poignant links. I've watched the first two with tears of sadness and joy for the dedication of Sir Nicholas Winton and the children he helped to save. Winton said, "Anything that is not impossible can be done, if one really sets one's mind to it and is determined it shall be done." : A creed for our times, for all times, and one to live by. I'll watch the Shoah Foundation interview this evening. Thank you so much.
I took note of Winton’s comment also. That comment makes what seems overwhelming and completely out of reach suddenly seem possible. He is correct. He reminds all of us that if a thing is not impossible there is a way to do it. Let that serve us now.
Steve, I was raised with a few of the survivors... at 1365 East 60th Street... they were destroyed... Lana was given a lobotomy in New Orleans... I shall never forget her face... it reminded me of Nadia Murad... who wrote her book here at Lewis Family Farm... and received the Nobel Peace Prize in Norway, when that bunch finally awakened.
1365 was The Orthogenic School, or OS, now destroyed by The University of Chicago along with The Department of Education at Judd Hall on Kimbark. Hannah Gray had her problems. Children? She had none, Thank God.
Your point about our distraction over things that don't really matter while we ignore the things that really DO matter is very well taken, and I am guilty of it myself. Shame on me, I say.
There is a short clip of Mr. Winton on Twitter or Instagram, I can't remember, but i do know that i watch it and cry every time I see it. His reaction to the people as they stand is wonderful. He was the Angel of Prague. The children in Ukraine are being stolen and transported to re-education centers. What do we do about it? - Seriously what do we do?
The fact that it happened here in the US, at the hands of the most unholy trinity of the insipid one that lost the election to President Biden, the fawning rotten to the core Jeff Sessions who sold his soul to become AG, and this lowest of the low POS, Stephen Millar, should give us all major cause for concern. There will be a special place in hell for anyone that knowingly brings harm to the innocent, Putin is going to have to make room in Hades for for those three who will be joining him there before long.
Putin, Trump’s buddy, is trying to remake Ukraine and its neighbors like Hitler remaking Europe. Genocide is considered a necessary part of his plan. That it is taking place under our watch makes us complicit for not taking action while witnessing it in real time.
Barbara, I am in no way shape of form complicit in anything like this. I have spoken up since however long I can remember against a mindset that is exploitive of anything that walks, talks, or sits in the ground, in a river, or an aquifer. Any system, economic or otherwise, that is set to exploit the water, the air, the plants, the trees, the animals, and the metals and minerals in the ground is going to end up exploiting other human beings, and that includes the children. I don't know why people are so surprised at what is happening not only to the children in any war-torn place, but also the children in this country that are dying from fentanyl "overdoses" or that are sitting ducks for any mass shooter, is beyond me. As long as there is greed or even a desire to accumulate ("exploit") things like expensive houses, houses in multiple places, gas guzzling SUVs and trucks, the lates expensive electrical car, communications gadgets, the lates and greatest in lethal firearms, the latest and greatest in outdoor equipment to enjoy ones exploits on the weekends in the backcountry, or anything that defines "success" in an American mind, there will never be a meeting of the minds with our adversaries across the globe or here at home. Exploitation is not a good word in my vocabulary. It leads to more unintended consequences than most want to admit to.
None of us here are complicit. But as citizens of this country we bear some responsibility for what happens here, whether we like it or not. Most citizens of this country were not complicit in the holocaust, but our leaders were by delaying action and refusing to admit immigrants to the extent needed and refusing to hear the warnings. Not being complicit does not free us from responsibility . The question before us is how do we stop this? What action do we take? We have to do more than have the correct mindset or live our lives in accordance with our principles. We have to act.
We don't have to act. Sometimes thinking about the solutions in a clear and coherent, nonjudgmental way, is the best thing to do than to act, usually impulsively. Thinking clearly and coherently takes time. sometimes years. If you want a long-lasting solution, that is. As a citizen of this country that refuses to vote for the lesser of two evils, I bear no responsibility for this particular warfare mess. And I am not complicit. The country I live in did not start a war with Ukraine, nor did this country under Biden support Russia invading Ukraine. If you feel responsible, go for it; help the children. There really are no political solutions anymore anyway. As long as there is this long term, generational mindset that is exploitive of all beings on this earth, there will be no coherent, long-lasting solutions.
I hope when this war ends war crimes tribunals will take place to hold the most egregious criminals accountable. There needs to be a reckoning before the first foundations are poured and before any bricks are laid in the rebuilding of Ukraine.
We stood by and allowed Hitler to kill millions. We allowed Trump and his crew to snatch kids away from their parents at our southern border. Have we yet to find them all?
We have said that slaughtered children is simply the price we are willing to pay to preserve guns and our government stands by again while children are exploited by the Russian government.
Yes, Biden should be demanding the return of these children, everyday. So should the leaders of NATO. So should all of us. But, we don’t. The world should be crying out. But we don’t.
I asked my Republican Rep what his red line in the sand was. What was the end for him to support gun control, to save the lives of the children of this country. What would it take for him to say, enough. No response. I didn’t expect any. He is busy heading up the new anti-woke committee in the House.
Steve, how do we change this? How do we take a stand? How do we make this government that is supposed to ensure domestic tranquillity and the blessings of liberty hear us and change directions? How do we fix this, Steve? If we are to be a shining city upon a hill...What do we do to make a difference?
The typical answer would be vote. We have. We have voted in our gerrymandered states, we have voted and voted and voted. But, here we are. And the children continue to suffer.
Adults are supposed to protect innocent children. Rather, hundreds of thousands of children are traumatized, abused, separated from their families, missing or dead, shot to death in school, raised in cult-indoctrinated MAGA families - while far too many adults who could do 'Better' are hypnotized by their phones or looking up for a balloon in the sky. This must change! We must protect the children in this country and around the world as a top priority! Thank you, Steve, for your powerful words today and I hope your video goes viral and gets to the people who make life and death decisions for children who need to be found, protected, and cared for.
I worry that Putin is turning them into soldiers.
I would not put it past Pukin to do that:(
Lisa your sentiments are blessed
My heart and soul connect with every word..with hugs, Marsha 🌹
Yes, Greed Kills. The Lies and polarization stoked by MAGA is leading to more gun violence, domestic violence, suicide, addiction, and trauma -much of which will play out for generations to come. Children need Love and Care. When their parents are caught up in conspiracy theories and cult-indoctrination, it is the children who will pay the biggest price, and many for the rest of their lives. Greed Kills. It must stop!
And Trump never cares one damn bit.
It appears that it is not only Trump, but hordes of people not caring.
It is the same ancient story that keeps repeating in the human world "greed, hatred, delusion and ignorance".
...all stemming from fear. We must not give in to fear and hate. Think small. Small daily kindnesses to whomever is near you.
The big secret in the world of politics was about the crazies that lived amongst us. No one would dare embrace them lest they would be ousted from the good moral people in American society.
The crazy train started with Trump riding down the escalator with his trophy wife with whom he had cheated on with his previous wife whom he also cheated on with his first wife.
In the world of social media & FOX news he tweeted as a pied piper calling them out from under their rocks. THE GOP did nothing to denounce his lies, lack of morals or his corruption. Secretly they hoped he would win. Their greed knows no bounds.
Our founding fathers predicted this moment in history. They didn’t predict the numbers by which the opposing party, the GOP, would succumb to such an abuse of power.
The Republican Party has revealed its true nature. POWER & GREED at any cost.
We can never give up or give in.
I will email my Senators & Reps and ask about the Ukrainian children.
If they hear from enough of us, maybe they will consider it as benefiting themselves to actually do something about it.
Narcissism rules everywhere.
It’s seems that way but I think love rules, always has, always will -corny and silly as the narcissists want to make that sound. It’s their attempt to make love powerless and thereby keep the power for themselves. Never works for long.
Shall we mount the type of activism shown around the Affordable Care Act? Ordinary people going to Representative’s and Senator’s offices in Washington and at home. It has to be done on a massive scale. ( BTW-not a day of marching but an endless stream of constituents). It has to represent all classes and races. Corporations and donors must wake up too.,
It worked for the Tea Party.
Yes it did!
I think that is part of it. It has to be massive, continual and people have to decide once and for all that our gun obsession is obscene.
I want to know what to do to enact change as well. I advocate for voting, and we must never stop. We need to chip away at the poison in our government until it is gone. When there is enough of a majority to effect change, we then must hold politicians feet to the fire until they make the changes we demand. It's the only thing I can think of, besides continuing to educate people to reality.
When the House changed hands so did the news. And so did Twitter. I believe that most Americans absolutely know what is right and just and valuable. We know what to keep and what to let go and what we must fight for.
Our will be done. You know why? Because it is what is needed right now. It’s the solution to everything. It’s the joining of our country. My hand in yours and yours in mine -for the world’s children. Education not indoctrination.
We the people of the United States, in order to form a more perfect union, establish Justice, insure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity, do ordain and establish this constitution for the United States of America.
I agree with everything you’ve said. Do we have to ban together and go to red states to protest on the behalf of our children?
Come to Indiana, where I live. We could use all the help we can get.
Please come to Montana, too!
I think we need to find common ground with the reds. Our children are common ground. Our finances and jobs and raising a family are common ground. Food, cooking and sitting down at the dinner table is common ground. Hobbies are common ground. The blues and the reds can communicate on these everyday issues and hold tight to each other. We can drop the labels of blue and red, left and right, and be what we really are: people who struggle to maintain a good life. It’s easier together.
My friends and I are pooling our resources to bring Ukr families to the US.
We are also helping support a family of 14 Ukr refugees now living here.
Im sending funds and toys etc to a young family in Kyiv.
When I heard of the thousands of stolen Ukr children it became difficult to not feel personally overwhelmed and dangerously under financed.
Please never stop beating this drum.
I long to hear President Biden do exactly what you suggest: “Where are the stolen children, Mr Putin?”
Hooray for your action and caring! Could someone get to President Biden before his “balloon speech” and plead with him to address this too?
Im thinking (hoping) at least a few of Biden’s crew subscribe to The Warning. Meanwhile, the rest of us here can write about this, talk about it, post about it and contact agencies like Save the Children and UNICEF (with whom I worked in Africa, and they do excellent work.) The UN will hopefully also address this. The EU is currently preparing documentation on all russia’s warcrimes to get ready for a trial. Putin is their target #1, but his lackeys and minions who carry out his truly evil desires will also be rounded up.
Its better than nothing. But we all can do more.
Forward this newsletter to everyone in DC, and to all your friends. Cut n paste short excerpts and post on social media making it clear its from Steve and his substack The Warning.
Also, hang Ukrainian flags everywhere we can. I have one on my front gate. The Maga heads in congress want to give Ukraine to Putin. We need to blanket this nation in 🇺🇦 to show America will defend democracies who are invaded by sick and wicked tyrants. (Amazon has the flag. A garden flag -18”x 12” is about $9 )
Thank you Dee Dee for the work you're doing, and your suggestions here!
Lisa Beardsly, Youre one of my favorite people online. We seem to read many of the same substacks! Would love to meet u one day, if u ever get to Santa Fe NM.
I'm on my way:) Thank you so much, DeeDee D!. Same to you -I live in SW Montana. XO
Oh Steve. You make me cry with the futility of it all. And yet you give hope with one example of one man who saw it all too, and did something incredible, maybe impossible, but he did it -something magnificent. How do we go about this ourselves? Please help. Tell me more?
I read this essay, watched & listened to Steve’s remarks and read the WaPo piece..As always with such a topic, it moves me to a place of self assessment..Learning for the first time of the humanity and bravery of Nicholas Winton back in 1938, I look at myself and say “What am I doing to make a difference?”
I’m a retired 68yr old white American man with a slight disability (though I do not claim it), for the most part living on a fixed income of mostly Social Security, insured by Medicare. That said, I know that there are those in less secure situations, I am grateful to be where I am..However, I worry every day that those benefits will be dealt away in some way by people who for all intents and purposes have total control over my personal stability..
I constantly try to think of some side hustle, and of late a regular job to help supplement my income..Yet when I consider my circumstances to these children, I feel ashamed that I have the audacity to even consider whining about what may or may not happen to me..After all, I can take action on my own behalf..
I’m frustrated and angry at the helplessness I feel, being in no position to exact change to their situation or anything having to do with Ukraine for that matter.. Angry, in my belief that the West is not doing enough to exact that very change..
Early on, not long after Putin began this atrocity nearly a year ago I sent some money to a humanitarian aid effort for the Ukrainian people, where that money went, what part of it actually did anything to aid someone in need I will never know. Alas, that small chuck of money was simply a pimple on a bulls ass in comparison to what must be done to stop this genocide..
I do not possess the Foreign Policy acumen to know what the right thing to do is..My anger and frustration is acute..Oddly, it brings to mind the following quote:
“If anything in this life is certain, if history has taught us anything, it is that you can kill anyone”
~Michael Corleone
The Godfather Part II, art imitating life..
When I look at the goings-on in the world, as I absorb the stories of mass shooting after mass shooting, I find myself arriving at this conclusion, all of the wrong people are getting killed..
'A culture that kills its children has no future,' wrote Elizabeth Bruenig in the Atlantic after Uvalde. This is life in America, month after month. If we do not care for our own, how can we care for Ukrainian children? Three of the murdered children at MSU are from Metro Detroit where I reside. Five more cling to life in a Lansing hospital. I thought about this bitter irony: many people care about the unborn child. After birth they don't give a rat's ass until they are of voting age...maybe.
As a former pediatric R.N. I think about the children of Ukraine and of the United States. They are the most undeserved, as they have only a whisper of influence.
That is where we come in. We need to speak for those who cannot
Yes, we need to speak loudly and consistently every way we can for children who have no voice -it is imperative. Thanks.
Absolutely
At the beginning of the war, as I saw Ukrainians moved into the east, I knew there was the likelihood we would never see them again Most likely they’re “adopted” into Russian families. It will be part of our mission to find and reunite them at wars end. The only hope is they’re safe and not killed in retaliation to Russia’s war failures.
On the US students, are you involved in improving our students lives? Are you voting for programs that help educate and protect students. Are you helping students participate in civic life? We can support their needs by our actions. We can involve them in the solutions.
Much work ahead
What shall we do? This group who read Steve’s brilliance and his pleading. What can we do? I will start by tweeting (sorry) about The Children. I will tweet to Biden and Musk... they probably won’t see it. I am nothing on Twitter. But maybe you can too? What else? This is maddening. Watching hell.
Yes, let's all start sharing Steve's post and video here every way we know how and writing to our representatives....and let's take to the streets if we need to. Thanks.
Taking to the streets fills my mind every day. Just walking out my door carrying a sign and speaking with the people. Anyone who has the same interest. Just so we can get people talking to each other. Many feel strongly but don’t know how to begin.
This is a great idea. A protest to keep the plight of kidnapped Ukrainian children in our awareness as well as the well being of all children.
I also tweet Mr Schmidt’s writing and videos in hopes of reaching a larger audience.
Same. Steve could be President- hello Steve, Steve, Steve, are you there Steve? We need someone who can forge a path. A path for the US and the world…… Steve, please.
I quit Twitter when I saw Elon with Rupert Murdock at the Super Bowl together.
Another well written and enlightening post Steve.
History indeed seems to be repeating. Will the scale of the atrocities be allowed to gin up to that of 85 years ago when the world slept as the Nazi train began to roll? Your request of your readers, and the America people, seems to be not just to pause and understand the gravity of what's happening in Ukraine, but to understand it in terms of what we stand for as a nation. That understanding -should- affect our collective sensibility and manifest it in our votes.
Tragically, the lesson taught by the re-run of history we're watching is lost on fully half the nation. That half watches the daily re-run of American firearm slaughter with complete indifference. It's more than just indifference; It's an acceptance of the unique American horror show as a worthy price to pay for the right to bear arms. Be mindful, those lost to gun violence are the fellow citizens of those who vote to sustain the slaughter. Sustaining the murder and suicide rate is achieved by voting Republicans into office with a seeming mandate granted by those very voters, not to just maintain the level of violence, but to increase it by increasing the availability of guns while simultaneously legislating a decrease in common sense control. I would venture to say that the overwhelming majority of voters who get their Republican into office know a victim directly or are acquainted with a victim of gun violence in their community. They know the tragedy, the pain, the ruination, etc. and still what's wanted is guns everywhere, and without control.
How this relates to the current European menace is answered by asking; are those same voters who act to sustain gun violence on their neighbors likely to give one wit about violence or injustice on the other side of the globe? Will their elected Republican candidates extend that indifference and act on it by withdrawing American support of the Ukrainian army? The answer is obvious.
The truth you've described here about the mentality of Americans is heart-breaking -True.
What a mess we're in:( If we had Critical Thinking Skills built into our education curriculums, more people would be able to distinguish fact from fiction and vote accordingly -I'd figure that, anyway. Much of the 'News' and social media algorithms are appealing to the primitive flight-fight-freeze part of our brains, intentionally, as people can be manipulated through fear and polarization -and sadly, that makes a lot of money for those who want power over others. The war in Ukraine, a global pandemic, an insurrection, a lack of trust in our institutions, lies upon lies by MAGA, one gun shooting after another, and so on -it takes a toll on people. I know so many people who are sick and depressed. I also am deeply affected by all of what is going on. Time to get out with the horses!
I 100% Agree!
Oh what an excellent piece, Steve! In addition to the deeply moving "That's Life" segment, we can watch this one-hour documentary "Children Saved from the Nazis : The Story of Sir Nicholas Winton" , freely viewable at YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nT0yPjj0UqQ&t=11s and this 15-min. clip "Saving the Children" from 60 Minutes https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c0aoifNziKQ . And here's the 92 minute interview in 2013 with an aged but still very sharp Nicholas for the USC Shoah Foundation, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DIoT76X2KgM .
Timothy, Thank You for posting these important and poignant links. I've watched the first two with tears of sadness and joy for the dedication of Sir Nicholas Winton and the children he helped to save. Winton said, "Anything that is not impossible can be done, if one really sets one's mind to it and is determined it shall be done." : A creed for our times, for all times, and one to live by. I'll watch the Shoah Foundation interview this evening. Thank you so much.
What a beautiful quote from Winton that you've gleaned for us here, Lisa.
I took note of Winton’s comment also. That comment makes what seems overwhelming and completely out of reach suddenly seem possible. He is correct. He reminds all of us that if a thing is not impossible there is a way to do it. Let that serve us now.
Thank you for the links.
Steve, I was raised with a few of the survivors... at 1365 East 60th Street... they were destroyed... Lana was given a lobotomy in New Orleans... I shall never forget her face... it reminded me of Nadia Murad... who wrote her book here at Lewis Family Farm... and received the Nobel Peace Prize in Norway, when that bunch finally awakened.
1365 was The Orthogenic School, or OS, now destroyed by The University of Chicago along with The Department of Education at Judd Hall on Kimbark. Hannah Gray had her problems. Children? She had none, Thank God.
Your point about our distraction over things that don't really matter while we ignore the things that really DO matter is very well taken, and I am guilty of it myself. Shame on me, I say.
Many of us are guilty of distraction from the important things, but that’s the aim of most media outlets in my opinion.
There is a short clip of Mr. Winton on Twitter or Instagram, I can't remember, but i do know that i watch it and cry every time I see it. His reaction to the people as they stand is wonderful. He was the Angel of Prague. The children in Ukraine are being stolen and transported to re-education centers. What do we do about it? - Seriously what do we do?
The fact that it happened here in the US, at the hands of the most unholy trinity of the insipid one that lost the election to President Biden, the fawning rotten to the core Jeff Sessions who sold his soul to become AG, and this lowest of the low POS, Stephen Millar, should give us all major cause for concern. There will be a special place in hell for anyone that knowingly brings harm to the innocent, Putin is going to have to make room in Hades for for those three who will be joining him there before long.
and many others...
Putin, Trump’s buddy, is trying to remake Ukraine and its neighbors like Hitler remaking Europe. Genocide is considered a necessary part of his plan. That it is taking place under our watch makes us complicit for not taking action while witnessing it in real time.
I agree. We are complicit.
Barbara, I am in no way shape of form complicit in anything like this. I have spoken up since however long I can remember against a mindset that is exploitive of anything that walks, talks, or sits in the ground, in a river, or an aquifer. Any system, economic or otherwise, that is set to exploit the water, the air, the plants, the trees, the animals, and the metals and minerals in the ground is going to end up exploiting other human beings, and that includes the children. I don't know why people are so surprised at what is happening not only to the children in any war-torn place, but also the children in this country that are dying from fentanyl "overdoses" or that are sitting ducks for any mass shooter, is beyond me. As long as there is greed or even a desire to accumulate ("exploit") things like expensive houses, houses in multiple places, gas guzzling SUVs and trucks, the lates expensive electrical car, communications gadgets, the lates and greatest in lethal firearms, the latest and greatest in outdoor equipment to enjoy ones exploits on the weekends in the backcountry, or anything that defines "success" in an American mind, there will never be a meeting of the minds with our adversaries across the globe or here at home. Exploitation is not a good word in my vocabulary. It leads to more unintended consequences than most want to admit to.
None of us here are complicit. But as citizens of this country we bear some responsibility for what happens here, whether we like it or not. Most citizens of this country were not complicit in the holocaust, but our leaders were by delaying action and refusing to admit immigrants to the extent needed and refusing to hear the warnings. Not being complicit does not free us from responsibility . The question before us is how do we stop this? What action do we take? We have to do more than have the correct mindset or live our lives in accordance with our principles. We have to act.
We don't have to act. Sometimes thinking about the solutions in a clear and coherent, nonjudgmental way, is the best thing to do than to act, usually impulsively. Thinking clearly and coherently takes time. sometimes years. If you want a long-lasting solution, that is. As a citizen of this country that refuses to vote for the lesser of two evils, I bear no responsibility for this particular warfare mess. And I am not complicit. The country I live in did not start a war with Ukraine, nor did this country under Biden support Russia invading Ukraine. If you feel responsible, go for it; help the children. There really are no political solutions anymore anyway. As long as there is this long term, generational mindset that is exploitive of all beings on this earth, there will be no coherent, long-lasting solutions.
Wow. That’s all I got.
I hope when this war ends war crimes tribunals will take place to hold the most egregious criminals accountable. There needs to be a reckoning before the first foundations are poured and before any bricks are laid in the rebuilding of Ukraine.