This is my entry for the blog event hosted by Silver Threading. This week I’ve chosen a quote, which touches a topic very close to me right now:

The author of this quote, Carl von Clausewitz, was born in 1780 and passed away in 1831. This German military historian was a soldier himself and participated in war conflicts of that time. This quote is around 200 years old, yet what was ‘modern’ at his time still, sadly, remains modern and relevant to this day.

I follow the conflict between Ukraine and Russia, looking at it from both sides. I’m Ukrainian and my husband is Russian. We both have relatives living in both countries. I have relatives living directly in the war zone. To say it’s personal is to put it mildly.

The war itself is a horrible, outrageous thing, unbelievably still happening in the 21st century. I believe, that as it was before, the same is true now – it is initiated by a small group of people, fighting for power, territories and wealth. However, what is truly sad is that it is fought by the hands of people, who would benefit the least from it, if at all. Moreover, people, who are not even involved directly in this conflict, become increasingly aggressive to each other, true for both sides. There’s talk of nations and comparisons of one nation to another, judgement of whose nation is better – do you get a flashback of WWII or is it just me? People hate other people on a national level, forgetting individuals, uniting in pack to project that hatred.

I do not agree with Russia’s current politics, but I choose not to believe that it’s the whole nation that is defected, I choose to see individuals. I support Ukrainian’s cause and struggle to protect their borders, but I also think that believing that their nation is better than the other is a dangerous path to take. I can only hope that by the end of this war there would still be people on both sides, who I could call friends.