seanessay.com
All people are equal and alike but… Here’s something I found on Quora (social e-mail) from a U.S. citizen:
My frail, ill mother treated me like shit from the time was 7 until she died. While living with me; she was terrible, horrific. I asked her WHY and this was her response: “Because I am miserable and I want YOU to be miserable, too!” Well, misery may love company, but those of us on the Receiving End are not so convinced.
In retrospect, my Mom raised me to be independent, go to college – and get an education, wait to marry, and don’t be like her. And then she resented me for heeding her words. I had choices that she did not.
The comments included:
Comments like this hurt children so much. I was a fat kid and believe me, I kept a mental list of those ( children and adults) who said unkind things. I might converse with them when necessary but never trust them with my true self. I’m so sorry you didn’t have a supportive mother.
When I say we are alike, I partly mean, “What is true for the individual is true for the species.” For example, a big heavy elephant was seen swimming between two islands! Now we know all elephants can swim.
For me, the trick in life is to substitute lightness for our shared darkness. For example, if I was at a cocktail party with Albert Einstein and Marilyn Monroe, then instead of narrowing my eyes with dark jealous muttering about them I would substitute admiration, or at least respect. Just as I would if you praised a fellow essayist in my presence. I respect people, and their mansions too.
A cell phone call between a Russian tank commander and his dear mother was intercepted. It went something like:
Son: As we pulled out I maneuvered my turret to fire a shell into each house along the road. They deserved it. Their town was smaller than ours yet had better roads than ours.
Mother: They deserved it.
Does the mother and her son represent the majority of the Russian species? They certainly represent the majority of the Russian soldiers—whom the Ukrainians call Orcs, after the evil creatures in Lord of the Rings. As for the majority of Russian civilians, something has darkened their souls—I have cut-and-pasted from Quora:
Roland Bartetzko
·
October 16
Follow
former German Army Paratrooper, Croatian Defense Council, Kosovo Liberation ArmyOct 16
Why didn’t most ordinary Ukrainians use their personal connections and bonds with Russian friends and relatives to help sway them against the war?
I spoke to dozens of people about this issue and trust me, they’ve all tried this.
Almost every Ukrainian has some kind of personal connection to Russia, whether it’s a friend, a colleague, or a relative. So when the Russians launched their attack on the country in late February, many people picked up their phones and dialled the numbers of their Russian connections to tell them what was going on (“you’re attacking us”).
I’m sure that many Ukrainians expected to hear some kind of outrage from their friends over these cowardly attacks.
However, this didn’t happen at all. Their calls had zero results.
I spoke with a young woman who called her uncle in Moscow while her street in a Kyiv suburb was attacked by Russian missiles. She told him about the Russian attack live but her uncle just coldly replied: “why are you lying to me, there’s no attack!”
The fact that half of his niece’s street was turning into rubble while he was talking with her on the phone somehow didn’t register with him.
Everyone I’ve spoken to told me a similar story:
The Russians have their heads buried so deep into the sand that they don’t see what’s going on in the world. Fed by their government’s propaganda and lies, they’ve completely lost all sense of reality. You can’t get through to them with words anymore.
Therefore, most Ukrainians have given up on their relations with people in Russia. These ties were cut overnight.
When you ask them if they think that they will ever speak with their former friends and family members in Russia again, most Ukrainians will give you the same answer: “most probably not!”
If you want to help me support Ukrainian volunteers (civilian and military, foreigners and locals), please use the contact email in my profile description.
…
I wish the free world would loosen their purse strings to have a “special manufacturing operation,” like during my dad’s war, to make lots of cannons for Ukraine. At least my home country, Canada, is one of the fourth or fifth biggest contributors. (After the US, UK and Poland… probably still ahead of Germany, but I’ve lost track)
And I wish the Russian people would one day allow the light in to their sad vast wasteland of a country.
… …
… …
Sean Crawford
In the largest country in the free world,
November,
2022
