Sometimes an Intervention is Required

When I was a young child I had terrible nightmares. My mother would try to comfort me but as soon as she left my room the terror would return. I become afraid of my own shadow. I was bullied terribly at school. This went on for years. I remember vividly two very important days of my life. The day I stood up to the bullies and the day I stopped being afraid.

Raised by a single mom, we were poor. The school provided free breakfast. It was one of the few reasons I liked going to school. One morning I was sitting in the cafeteria eating a single serving box of fruit loops. I loved that cereal. And the bully came up behind me and threw my cereal on the floor. I lost it. I tackled him to the ground and punched him in the face. I walked out of the cafeteria, down the hall, and out of the school filled with rage. My best friend who witnessed the whole thing followed me.

Together we played hooky the rest of the day, bonding and dodging the police who were undoubtedly looking for us. That day had painful consequences. The parents of my best friend forbid us to see each other ever again. And indeed we never saw each other. While there were still bullies who intimidated me for many more years, who innately sensed my fear, they were much more careful because they could also sense I no longer stood down.

The day I stopped being afraid would come many years later though when I was a young adult. I started studying the Israeli martial art form called Krav Maga. A fighting style born out of WWII. A key tenant is give no ground. The day I earned the yellow belt was the day I no longer carried fear on my sleeve or in my mind. I walked with a new sense of confidence that would change my life forever.

Which leads me to my point. Bullies never stop unless and until you challenge them back.?

Putin is a bully.?

What kind of world do we want to live in? A world of fear or a world of peace. I learned my lesson early in life. And I chose to live in peace.

Putin must be stopped. The world must stand up to him along with the Ukrainian people. Silence cannot prevail. Ignorance cannot prevail. Propaganda cannot prevail. We cannot allow a single man to illegally and immorally destroy entire countries without impunity. It will never end if we don’t stand up to murderous tyrants like Putin.

Sometimes an intervention is required. This is one of those times. We must defend the skies of Ukraine from the hell that is falling from Putin’s army. If we don’t that hell could very well descend upon our own skies.

Stand with Ukraine. Defend Ukraine’s skies.