Flags and Songs (Saturdays with Ukrainians)
The war began on the birthday of one of my best friends from Finland. Now that has really become a date that will be hard to forget. I was angry that they stole it from us.
But the main reason I was angry is that it seems that they have never learnt from history. They forgot history, distorted it, so it would fit their imagination. Death, suffering, horror, grief… Like that did not mean anything. Just some numbers to report. Not even a slight thought of real people who are in the way of the war machine. That’s pure madness on such a huge scale…
I am angry and probably will always be from now on. I’ll have to learn to live with this anger. I feel that it will be very hard to build even a slight confidence in the future. I think it’s not up to me to decide what to do with my anger. Those who have a say in this are Ukrainians. So I follow them. I come every Saturday to their protests, carrying my own Lithuanian flag. I speak to them, listen to them. They will eventually decide the moment for my anger to calm down. For now it continues to burn hot.
V. M.
April 2022