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I Didn’t Think Ukrainians Would Fight Because I Wouldn’t
Like much of the rest of the world, I’m inspired by so many Ukrainians vowing to defend their country against an outsized enemy. Conceptually, I understand why people without military training are picking up weapons to defend themselves. Why they get together as a community to make Molotov cocktails. Why they’re barricading roads, building crude tank barriers, and taking down street signs to confuse Russian troops. Why unarmed civilians stand in front of Russian military vehicles, refusing to move, telling them to go home, and singing the Ukrainian national anthem. Many of them have lived under Soviet rule and don’t want to go back to that kind of life. They have been waiting for the Russian army to unleash their full force for a week now. One Ukrainian woman who was interviewed said she was very scared at first, but now she has something to do. Everyone is working together to prepare. People are buoyed by their president who is quickly becoming a symbol of Ukrainian courage and defiance in the face of death and destruction.
And still, I would have been on the first flight to the US, as soon as I was offered an escape route. Offered the same, President Zelensky famously asked for weaponry instead of “a ride.”
We’ve all heard and seen the viral stories of Ukrainian courage that match Zelensky’s ability to inspire the entire…
