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Ted's thoughts: the war on Ukraine

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Ted Mouradian

I want you to imagine the following.

You get up one morning to the sound of a rocket going off in the building next to you. You are startled out of bed as your entire room shakes violently. Then you look around and most of your windows are smashed in, pictures and other items in your apartment are strewn all over the floor.

Outside you see the apartment buildings next door and across the street blown to shreds, and the first thing you think of is your neighbours. You wonder if they got out or they are all dead. Then it hits you. You panic and look all over your apartment for your loved ones.  Luckily, you find that everyone is safe and unharmed.

What do you do next? You gather up everything you can carry and you and your family head into the street.  That is when realization fully sets in. You are at war!  Russia has actually invaded your country. Your life has changed forever — it will never be as it was.

Days and months later you still cannot believe this is happening to you. Yet it is. It is your new reality. You friends and family who are either dead or missing. Others have headed for the border and other countries, looking for safety. Men who want to leave can’t — they must stay and fight for the survival of their country. You have no electricity, no heat, no water, very little food and only the clothes on your back.

You spend nights underground in a bomb shelter, listened to the pounding of rockets and bombs going off around you. You are dead tired, but you can’t sleep for fear of not waking up.

During the day you wander around, foraging for food and water as well as helping other when you can. The carnage of dead bodies is now etched in your brain, something you will never get used to and something that will live with you forever. And then there are the smells of the dead and the smoke from the fires that you can’t get out of your system.

That is only a sampling of what Ukrainians must be going through.  Even though I cannot do it justice, I wanted to paint this picture for you.

I want to speak to those of you here, living in Canada, who believe you are now living in a country that is not free, those of you living in this great country, shouting for freedom. I know you have the right to believe what you believe and you have the right to protest against what you don’t believe in, as do I. I believe you should all give your heads a shake and wake up to the fact that you live in one of the most free countries in the world.

Yes, we just went through lockdowns and yes there were mask mandates. We also had the whole vaccination issue, all of which I do not want to debate at this point. If you don’t want to get vaccinated, that is up to you. My issue with those who think there needs to be some sort of revolution, because you are not free.

Consider what displaced Ukrainians are thinking about your shouts of freedom. These are people who have for the last year been fighting for their lives. They have been invaded by a super power.  Family and friends have been killed and children taken from their homes and relocated in Russia.

The destruction of families, animals, houses and land are devastating, and you are running around the streets mad as hell, crying that your freedoms have been taken away because your government was trying to save your lives during a pandemic, and you were forced to do things you didn’t want to do. Really!

Look around you and give yourself a reality check.  It isn’t that bad. As a matter of fact, it’s pretty damn good. My toilet flushed this morning.  It’s going to be a great day.

Ted Mouradian is an author and professional speaker.  He is president of the 2% Factor Inc. and his videos can be seen on TikTok and Instagram. Ted can be reached at [email protected]