And here is that famous word of Chateaubriand, learned when I was 15 years old, comes back to my mind in the light of what is happening these days in Ukraine with the invasion of Russia.
I have often remembered this word, facing different situations in my little life. If things were going badly, I would say to myself "everything passes, everything ends" so I don't have to worry. However, when things were going well and I wished it would last as long as possible, I would also say to myself "everything passes, everything ends".
This reminds me of a story that is told about King Solomon. One day he went to see his jeweler and explained that he should find a solution to the problems he sometimes had. The jeweler made him a ring in which he wrote: "this too shall pass". Solomon was satisfied and turned to his ring when a problem arose.
Today, the whole world is panicking, seeing thousands of deaths on both sides and especially millions of refugees fleeing to neighboring countries to avoid dying. The situation is even more complex as these refugees are only women, children and old people. Of the almost 5 million refugees, as of April 20, 2022, more than 4 million have ended up in Poland, the closest country to the eastern part of Ukraine.
The whole world accuses the Russian president of being a dictator, a war criminal, even a madman. And meanwhile, he stands up to all the governments trying to contact him to propose a peace.
It's been over 200 days as of the end of September 2022 and contrary to what the world thought, that Ukraine would collapse so quickly, it is not the case. If everything passes and everything ends, here it is not yet the case.
As for me, I will confess that my position towards Ukraine is very different. The whole world takes pity on this country and does its best to help it and this is respectable. For my part I remember that during World War II, Ukraine joined the Nazis in killing nearly 32,000 Jews in two days. The authorities asked them to come to the Babi Yar forest for a special meeting, and there they finished them all off and buried them in a mass grave that was later covered to avoid recognition. In total, almost one million Ukrainian Jews died. And this is difficult for me to forget.
I might add that some rabbis claim that what is happening today is the punishment that God is sending to Ukraine for what it did in the past.
My question becomes: Should we today, 77 years later, continue to remember those unfortunate times and blame the criminals for their actions?
Some will say 'enough is enough', let's live in good terms with our neighbors, whoever they may be.
While others will claim that no, we must not forget the harm that was done to us and that the next generations must learn what happened.
As for me, I am caught between these two thoughts. It is very difficult to decide. However, I appreciate both points of view.
This war, for it must be called by its name, began on February 24, 2022 and today is September 20, seven months later and it is status-quo. We learn that the city of Mariupol with a population of 400,000 souls has been totally devastated, nothing remains. More than 100,000 people live without water, without electricity, without anything to eat. Is this normal?
The capital Kiev seems to be holding out and the Ukrainian president, Volodymir Zelensky has become the great hero of these modern times to hold out, refusing to flee with his family, preferring to stay close to his people. Everyone says he is Jewish, but in my opinion, his parents may have been, while he baptized his children. To me, he is a Jew in name only, and for me, that is not enough.
These days, Russian President Vladimir Putin, not satisfied that his troops are not winning this war, threatens to use nuclear weapons. Meanwhile, NATO, the European force that is supposed to protect its inhabitants, cannot do anything because Ukraine is not a member of NATO. This is one of the reasons that Putin used to prevent Ukraine from having access to it.
And the United States in all this?
There is no way they will come to the rescue because that will lead them to fight against Russia and the scenario will become 'the third world war that the world wants to avoid. Yes, the US and European countries are sending weapons but not a single soldier and that is not enough.
How will it end?
We are lost in conjectures and conjectures. We may look for analogies, likelihoods, presumptions and probabilities, but the fact remains that this situation resulting from a combination of unfortunate events is here and is facing us.
Is there a super man or a super woman who would come and solve this problem? Because it is a problem! Who says problem says 'question to be solved', doesn't it? And the solution, where is it? The situation is complicated, as if it were composed of many parts whose relationships are difficult to understand.
Isn't intelligence the ability to understand, to discover relationships between facts and things? Doesn't intelligence help us to act with discernment? Where is it? Is there not among us a person worthy of this word to come to the rescue because indeed the time has come to cry 'HELP'.
