Everyone is posting about Ukraine.
I would post too, if I could find anything to say.
Well, what I can say is this;
I remember, about the time that the Kurds were fleeing from Saddam wossname, listening to interviews with these foreign-looking people, carrying bundles and babies and old people, looking 'not like us', and realising that they were, in fact, 'just like us'; they were doctors, lawyers, teachers, not subsistence farmers or herders living a nomadic life with camels and goats.
This may sound incredibly naive and blinkered of me. But all the refugees in war zones and famines and floods that we had seen on television before this looked so very different in dress, appearance, lifestyle, culture, that I had found it difficult to connect with them on a simple human level.
Suddenly, 'they' had become 'us', and for months I had nightmares, planning how I would walk to - where? - with two babies, carrying everything on my back, leaving everything, photographs, the pets, behind.
We are fortunate, in our generation, in our streets and towns, beyond all imagining, and it would be beyond selfish, it would be inhumane, not to share what we have, wherever they come from.
They are TAKING THEIR PETS. Have you not been watching? Decent people do not abandon animals, and I’m appalled that YOU would.
ReplyDeleteWe are only seeing those who are able to take their pets - not everyone can, and inevitably some will have been left behind - it's NOTHING to do with being "decent people" at all. How does anyone know what they would and wouldn't be able to take?
DeleteIt is just a totally tragic situation. There are places we can donate; Ukraine Red Cross is actively helping, and it is possible to donation directly to the United Nations work with refugees in Ukraine (but Afghanistan, Yemen and Stria are still in dire need as well). We do what we can...
DeleteI HAVE been watching, and am so glad that they have been able to take their pets.
ReplyDeleteRemember, I was describing a nightmare, a situation where I would have had to walk out with two toddler and everything for our survival - bedding, clothing, utensils, food - on my back. Managing two cats was part of the horror of the dream, and imagining the hard and terrible choices people have to make - what about my parents, for example? - was part of the nightmare.
You are right in that decent people would not want to abandon their pets, but it is impossible to know what one would have to do faced with such appalling choices.
I cant imagine what they must feel having to abandon a home where up to now they have been safe. How fortunate we are in the UK.
ReplyDeleteYes. When it comes to counting blessings, this is a big one, in spite of all that we might dislike about how things are here.
DeleteI spent yesterday afternoon packing 3 trucks with food donations for Ukraine. Our friend Monika, who is an angel with many interests, went last night with the food and a serving truck. In the food we loaded were several sacks of dog food!. I hope the situation never gets bad enough that the refugees are forced to eat it!
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