WHERE IS OUR LION?

 "The lion who found his roar". Such is the phrase used to describe the lauded leader of Ukraine. This is a person who has risen to the challenge, who has bravely defied and denied offers of rescue, stating he needs "ammo, not a ride". Moreover, he has committed his family to that same most possible, G-d forbid, danger. Attempts to assassinate him have already been foiled, but there will be more, and the results, if successful, will not be pretty. 

Yet there he stands, a Jewish President in a country long known for antisemitism, close on to a monument at Babi Yar, a notorious scene of mass murder of Jews by Nazis and Ukrainian soldiers, of more than 34,000 Jews. Yet there he stands, side by side, with his countrymen and women, in a land where there remains the largest number of Jews in Eastern Europe - over 200,000, and there he will remain until the hopefully positive end of victory over the invaders. Ukraine is now considered to be the country in that area with the least antisemitism. Ironic indeed.

Meanwhile, here is how the status quo is described after a horrific night of attacks on Kyiv and other areas.  Russian strategy was shifting to one of "slow annihilation" of Ukraine. Rising attacks on civilians, subsequent food crises and other inflicted misery could mean that the courage and resistance shown by Ukrainians will make their plight even more brutal.

Ukraine's will to fight "is extending this," ... "But the cruel military math of this will eventually come to bear, absent some intervention, absent some fundamental change in the dynamic."

Russia's increasing frustration could create a horrific scene in Kyiv that would likely see war crimes being committed, 

"They will just pummel the city; they will destroy (it) section by section. They will starve the people out, depopulate it,".

At what cost will we allow this to continue? How many more thousands must die in order to satiate the bloodlust, the power grabs of Putin, insanely determined to rebuild the Russian Empire of the Tsars, despite all realistic and humanistic factors opposing that ambition. He is most emphatically not the lion of a leader that Russia needs, but rather a leader of the same ilk as the hyenas of The Lion King. As usual, there is much adult truth in the fairy tales ostensibly written for children. He is the ogre that stalks the countryside, the trolls under the bridge, the witch counting on satiating her appetite via the deaths of others.

In today's case, however, the folks of the area are not going down without a fight and indeed, are in fact waking up the sleeping senses of nobility, of right, of justice, within the world that has for a decade gone to sleep, followed leaders of morally weak and vile character. Putin and Trump mirrored each other, relying on the Big Lie, with Trump even now stating that he championed NATO, supported arming Ukraine -the polar opposite of the truth and a main causation of this whole bloody mess. Unbelievably there are those who continue to believe those blatant lies.

Herein we have reached the once unimaginable crux of a possible, perhaps, sadly so, a probable corrupt and fascistic government of the United States as early as 2022, a result of crooked elections, with voting rights denied to many and gerrymandering beyond all possible imagination. What will be then recognized as the governing people of America will be a load of weak willed, morally destitute, fearful followers of Trump or rip-roaring supporters of him and his ilk. Even as the first jury trial of a traitor, a leader, of J6, goes on trial. Even as the House panel continues to investigate, exposing how deep, how high, and how low, the rot ran. Rather extensively.

We here in America have no lions leading us. What we have is the growing number of open fascists who attend conferences where Putin is cheered in the same breath as Trump. Where invasions of other countries are cheered, where unbelievably, the extremist right, even what is now standard right wing, cheer on our enemies, turn to fascism, wish to break the back of democracy. Where Tucker Carlson actually goes on TV in Russia praising them. Our people!  Republicans, to the great shame of a once proud party of loyal Americans. Not our people, yet so manifestly ours. Even as they ignore protocol and heckle a president giving his State of the Union address, talking of wounded veterans, including his son, and Boebert calls out. Like a moron. Like the piece of garbage that she is, one of too many low lifes who unfortunately have infiltrated our government

Russia's openly planned calculated military invasion was exposed by a map displayed by the puppet head of Belarus. His citizens are getting restless, as are the people of Russia, whose   children are being slaughtered in Ukraine to serve Putin, the madman. They look to Zelensky, claim him as their lion too. They look within as well, finding their own possible lions as a woman, a leader of Belarus in exile, speaks of possibilities in Belarus. 

Where do we stand on aiding these movements?  Where do we stand in the possible revitalization of a dream of a free world in all of Europe, no imitation iron curtains remade and rehung? Where do we stand on the rightness of it all? What is to be required of us in commitment, in ensuring a future unfractured by evil souls? Finally, what are we willing to do, to reset boundaries, to repair the world, a major tenet of Judaism by the way, called Tikkun Olam. We all of us have that obligation - to give to the world the best of us, to make it a better place simply for us having been there.

We so need a lion. We so need a reincarnation or remake of one who inspires the young, reinvigorates the tired and discouraged, a person for the generations, and yes, a person who is flawed as well. We need a human, a hero, a lion who is loyal to the pride, loyal to justice and right. Where is that person willing to emulate heroes, to pull a boat with his teeth to save a person, and 20 years later face off a threat of similar fright, painted with nuclear shadows. Where is our lion - or lioness? Where are the JFKs of today? Look deep, my friends; look quickly. As the song goes - 

"I need a hero, I'm holding out for a hero
'Til the morning light
He's gotta be sure
And it's gotta be soon
And he's gotta be larger than life"

 Substitute WE for I and there you have it.

A simple need, a most difficult task.