I wrote this weeks thought, in my head, at work, it was after midnight… and quiet. Before the invasion of Ukraine.
[I turned to look back at my father. Under the only street light left flickering, I could see his shoulders hunched over, they would jolt, as they absorbed the recoil of his rifle.
As the fog of war slowly enveloped him… my eyes went back to the flickering street light… and my minds eye turned back in time.
“Listen son, you are the man of the family now, take your sister, and your mother outside the city, get them on the train heading north, and get them to the border. Keep them safe.”
His hand was on my shoulder as he gave me these instructions, then, with a squeeze of my shoulder, that was sharp, it hurt, he said, “Son, remember this day. Now go on. Get out of here.”
As I looked back, I was startled out of my inner thoughts when my son said, “Dad! You’re hurting my arm! I have to get to Mom and Abby!”
He was right. Man’s grand inhumanity towards man, is only broken up every thirty years or so.
This time, it’s me… standing in the choke point, checking my rifle, and giving my son the same instructions my father gave me thirty years ago. My son is so much better than I ever was, I was hoping he would know peace in his lifetime.
As he breaks free of my grasp and runs to gather up his mother and sister… like I told him to do… my only thought is, as I look at that same old street light flickering off of his shoulders, “I’m so proud of him.”
And then… a chill on the back of my neck has me turn and face the same fog of war that enveloped my father, and as I take up my position, as my father did, that same fog slowly gathers around my feet.]
Those words rose up in my heart as I contemplated the first rumblings of the invasion of Ukraine.
And I thought, “In this day and age, one guy can still decide to go and kill other people on a mass scale… and for what? War is really just stupid! Wanting to just dominant another human being just because you can! Is even dumber!”
I get it. Humans aren’t gonna change. There will always be those who prey on the weak. And so it behooves us, as a man, to present ourselves as being strong, with a demeanor of situational awareness. And to be ready… for anything.
A lions mane, a lions roar, claws and fangs… lets everybody know who they are dealing with.
It’s 2022 for crying out loud and we’re still murdering Abel!
To ENCOURAGE, EQUIP & ENGAGE… is sorely needed.
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