Letters from the Republic

It’s finally getting warmer.

The temperature is climbing up into the 50s (F) and the sun is shining through clear skies. A winter this bitterly cold has left an ice layer on the streets so resilient that its thaw will take just a bit longer, but the improving conditions outside are a very welcome relief.

That’s not to say things are good.

As glaciers covering the roads melt to reveal pockmarked roads evocative of the old BQE, the feeling is that of a phalanx in formation that unclenches in a moment of pause. People are shattered after so difficult a winter, and resources are dwindling. The shrinking ice yields sprouts of the thousands and thousands of flags on the Maidan that were covered by the layer of unsullied white, each one representing a life lost in this struggle. Hungary continues to block the EU’s pledged support for Ukraine’s war chest (expected to be dry this month), and the UN is shedding more and more humanitarian workers as war in the Middle East grabs headlines and funding for aid efforts evaporates worldwide.

In this moment I think it is a good time to recognize the efforts of so many globally who do what they can to support a republic in dire need. Though our governments have been waylaid and weakened, a class of dedicated citizenry continue to provide noble support to the cause here. Donations large and small come from people of every description for no thanks other than the knowledge that they have taken part in the defense of Fortress Europe.

They tend to get minimized to a truly unfortunate and unfair degree. A frustrating amount of people back home in Brooklyn tend to resort to nihilism rather quickly, saying that nothing anyone does matters in conflicts so incomprehensibly large. That’s a philosophical rut that’s easy enough to fall into, especially in a city of eight and a half million with a cost of living crisis that’s not expected to mollify anytime soon.

As someone on the ground, I can say with certainty that small things count here. It simply does not take much to elicit gratitude from Ukrainians who often enough have lost everything in Russia’s invasion. Everything from wet wipes to gauze to tourniquets to $500 power reserves makes an immense difference to each recipient, and every dollar spent here helps support a local economy that so long enjoyed solidarity and burgeoning acceptance with the European community.

People should only do what they can in any event, and to the single parents who can only afford the cash and energy necessary to raise a child with awareness and conscientiousness in a terrifying world I would like to extend my thanks. To the people dedicated to righting other wrongs in the world and can only offer their own recognition of a shared struggle I would like to extend my thanks. To the people who send hundreds to thousands of dollars to organizations like my own which dedicate every resource to the defense of Ukraine I would like to extend my thanks. To the people who have purchased and driven vehicles for donation stuffed with aid from all over Europe and the UK, I would like to extend my thanks.

Like I said, small things count – and what all of you do is certainly not small.