LEST WE FORGET

Today is the anniversary of Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
It is easy, when we each have daily concerns, to forget that on our doorstep in Europe there is a war raging. We must not forget. That war has implications for all of us although it is only being inflicted on some and only some are suffering its terrible consequences.
They are seeing the wilful destruction of everything that defines them as a nation, as Ukrainians. If we stand for a moment and look around us, at our homes, our belongings, even just our memories, can we even imagine what it is like to lose everything? We wake each morning and face a day with our memories of place and loved ones still with us.
But in Ukraine there is no such certainty, everything is threatened, so much destroyed. Lives and loved ones lost in a war waged because of one man, Putin, and his destructive and delusional sense of Russian patriotism.

We must not allow their suffering to become a mere distraction in our lives.

Perhaps we can use the minute of silence today (24th February) to reflect on what is happening not so very far away.