End of February

In cold New England, the end of February was cause for celebration. The end of the coldest yet shortest month of winter was at an end. March promised cold and snow, but also change. Change with longer days and warmer temperatures, snow melt and shorter snowstorms. Navigating toward spring was the goal. Promise and hope soared.

The same is true in Illinois today.  Cold. Snow. Ice. Gloomy skies, except when it is very cold; then the skies are clear blue, the sun is bright in the sky, but the temperatures plummet to the basement.

We are ready for warmer weather. We are tired of being indoors. We yearn for plant life to welcome our day each morning. The smell of fresh air and the bounty of spring pulls us through the doldrums of Old Man Winter.

In the midst of this, war troubles the planet. This is not a skirmish of neighbors. This is a war of ideology, global positioning and power. Ukraine is a chess piece on the world stage, a large buffer between the Russian Bear and the democratic West. If the Bear can frighten the other border nations, the Bear believes she will have a powerful hand to influence world affairs. After that, filling in the old pieces of the now defunct USSR will be ‘recruited’. This is what we face this February 2022. And March, April, May and June. Where it will end depends on leaders of goodwill throughout the global village.

Well! I guess Spring has been eclipsed. Now we seek new growth of courage and resistance in addition to new blooms, leaves and greening landscapes.

Peace matters. Politics matter. Paying attention to the news and happenings matter. Democracy versus autocracy. Look up the definition of autocracy. Learn the difference between the methods of governance and how it impacts the individual citizen. This struggle is age-old. It matters what we think, feel and do. And it means much more when we have the freedom to determine for ourselves what is best for self and family, neighbors and community. A nation is built on these interactive pieces.

Where are we on the democracy scale? Where on the autocracy measure? How far from dictatorship are we? is that an idle thought or a scare tactic.

Or maybe not.

February 28, 2022

 

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