Powerless
Growing up as a child in the 50’s and as a teen in the 60’s, I lived through the worst of the Cold War, that conflict between the ideologies of democracy and that of communism. I remember the drills in my school of ‘duck and cover’, the idea of hiding under our desk in event of an atomic attack. The utter foolish stupidity of that still never ceases to amaze me, (what was going to protect me when the school was blasted to bits by a nuclear blast). I remember the Civil Defense signs on buildings indicating that there was a nuclear air-raid shelter in the most bottom parts, stocked with food, water and bedding. We were all encouraged to build a shelter in our back yard to be prepared for the end-of-the-world, which surprisingly is still very much in vogue these days. The Korean War, the Cuban Missile Crisis, the many invasions by the Soviet Union of Eastern European countries, smaller conflicts around the globe of us vs them and how just the defeat of one foreign country could lead to a domino effect ending in the fall of democracy.
In my teen years I joined the Civil Air Patrol, (a civilian auxiliary of the US Air Force). I worked my way up by a program of leadership and study to the rank of Cadet Major, and considered a career in the military to serve against the Russians. I studied all of the moves by the Soviet Union to counter all of the US democratic moves around the Earth, I knew all the statistics of aircraft, naval vessels and submarines built for our defense. I was proud to have worked at Hill AFB one summer during my college years to package military supplies and equipment for our armed forces around the world. After I got married I still kept a close watch on world events and was delighted when I got a job at a newspaper which gave me unlimited access to all the noteworthy stories happening around the globe. After the fall of the Soviet Union at the end of 1991 I was overjoyed at the end of our most hated enemy and figured that it was the end of it all.
However, at the beginning of 2000, Vladimir Putin became the president of the Russia, and a new and much quieter Cold War began, and the very worst of it all was, that we didn’t even know we were in the most deadliest fight of our lives. It all concluded a few days ago, and within six weeks of the president taking over the oval office. Our very own newly elected leader of the land surrendered to Putin and Russia, unconditionally. To say that this was a total shock to me, is a vast understatement. I cannot even begin to express the unmitigated despair I feel now. I believe I finally know how the French population felt when their country surrendered to the Germans in June, 1940. I have never felt so powerless in my entire life, this gut punch is something I don’t think I can ever recover from. The complete betrayal of my country to Russia is beyond words. After a long lifetime of opposing those forces of darkness I can not see any hope for the future of our civilization. If you think I am being unnecessarily and overly dramatic, I am in deadly earnest. God forgive those people who did this, because I never will.
(A very long time ago when I thought about a different life, but took another path).
