Helping the people of Ukraine, and more

These are my thoughts about the situation with Putin and the people of Ukraine. But I have to say this is also an opportunity for people, worldwide, and especially women to take a stand against violence and for human rights, equality, dignity, and compassion.

I, too, get frustrated when things like this happen again and again. I feel helpless. What can I do?! So I'm sharing my thoughts and some actionable links to help you discover what you can do. It's a little long, but in the interest of time, I decided not to over-edit or silence myself. =)

I admit, the more I heard about Putin possibly invading Ukraine, the more shocked and angry I became. How, in this day and age, can a person feel so entitled that he can take over another country by injuring and killing as many people as it takes to achieve that goal. After all the years of study on the horrific effects of war and violence, how does this continue? And why are we not outraged into positive action?

We march against one issue or another. We pray that someone will do something. But how often do we actually do what we know needs to be done? Why don’t we all do something to demand positive action for peace?

Because it’s the dynamic of violence that breeds silence from the very people that need to speak up. Why? It all comes down to fear, and it’s what I call the awareness-denial dynamic. We are aware that it’s wrong, but deny our ability to do anything about it. It’s the same dynamic that silences a child or a parent when the other parent is being abusive. It’s the same dynamic that silences the worker because they don’t want to lose their job. It’s the same dynamic that stops elected officials from speaking out about what’s right for the greater good because someone might criticize, belittle, or simply treat them as if they are wrong. And if we let them continue to silence us, the dynamic will continue. It’s that simple and they know it.

So why isn’t something being done on the world stage about acts of aggression? I’ll give you my 3 reasons.