(#5172) Until Ukraine is free from Russia, little else matters to me!

      I know it is the start of baseball season. I know that basketball and hockey are winding down toward their playoffs. I know that college hoops for the men and women are close to crowning a national champion. But none of this matters much to me. There was a time when sports at this time of the year superseded everything else in my life but those halcyon days are long gone. No longer do I dream of what could be for my favorite college football team as they go through their official spring practices. Instead I wait to hear about when the next offensive by Ukraine will end up driving the Russian horde out of Ukraine.
     You may well ask me why the change in me? Simply put as an answer is that our democracy here in America is indirectly affected in such a profound way that if Ukraine is not successful, the idea that we will have another spring season of sports to enjoy will be vastly eroded. The sense of peace time will no longer prevail as Russia, if successful in Ukraine, will draw NATO into a larger conflict that will bring we Americans into a land war in Europe once again. A third world war will be triggered with Russia and China likely as the leading foes for us to combat.
     It is not easy to put at the back of my mind the senseless murder of Ukrainians while cheering on some game that has only a social value. I am not so callous as to care less about real life and death scenarios while rooting for a sports team. The ending of putin and Russia's march through Europe has to be prioritized and if we don't lift our heads from our own amusements then we will find that others will physically lift our heads with bad intent. Saving our democracy is greater than any sports team outcome. This should be a no brainer yet it seems that too many of us are so narrowly focused on our own existence that we fail to see what is happening right before our eyes to all of us.