Amaryllis Fox

Amaryllis Fox Instagram – My heart is aching. I hate that this is happening. I hate that we did the same thing in Iraq. I hate war with every fiber of my being.
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That’s the most hate I’ve expressed in a long while, but it’s not directed at the people of any country. It is militarism that I hate. The shattering of peaceful lives by bombers launched from distant bases. The murder of children from the sky.
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Yesterday, parents dropped their kids at nursery schools and met for coffees at street cafes. Today, a foreign military has rained fire on their land. Millions of our fellow humans — Ukrainians and Russians — woke up to find themselves at war through no choice of their own.
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Make no mistake. This is not the choice of everyday Russians. No more than everyday Americans chose to transform Iraq into a moonscape. A man called from Moscow this morning to express the shame he feels about his country’s actions. “We are all just Putin’s hostages,” he said.
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Citizens of militarized countries all over the world know that feeling of helplessness all too well. Whether it is our homes destroyed by the shelling, or our tax dollars paying to shell the home of another, the sense of powerlessness can be overwhelming.
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But we are not powerless. We are not helpless. We must unite, now more than ever, to demand our leaders do the hard work of investing in peace. A budget is a moral document. For years, global budgets have prioritized war over life, invested in bombs at the expense of schools, missiles at the expense of hospitals. Today, as so many times before, we see the devastation those investments return.
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I pray that this is a wake-up call and not a moment to double down. I pray that it is a turning point and not a crossing of the rubicon. I pray that when the history of this season is written, it is a story of awakening, a story of the world’s people, you and me, linking arms and saying no more.
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If you are in Russia, stand up. If you are not, you stand up too. We are, each of us, the heroes we are waiting for. Only together can we reject the wars of our parents, the wars of arms dealers and military cronies, safe in their plush ivory towers. Together we can — and we must — demand peace. | Posted on 25/Feb/2022 02:36:26