Ukraine

The smoke billows,
my heart trembles—
when I see all the pain and suffering.

I don’t want to hear it!
Why is all this happening
on my watch?

Because I can’t put it back, together again—
all those broken pieces,
of broken promises,
from broken people.

Yesterday I breathed a sigh of relief.
Today a phantom menace
lingers in the air.

All that building for tomorrow—
for nothing!
How can we rebuild democracy,
if the builders had to leave?

And why—
do so many angels have to die,
for the evil ones to live?

Commentary: “The banality of evil” is a concept coined by the philosopher Hannah Arendt, who wrote that Adolf Eichmann, one of the chief architects of the Holocaust, was an ordinary man who was motivated by “an extraordinary diligence in looking out for his personal advancement.” Intellectuals are struck by how many government officials and patriots—often driven by professional ambition or obedience—are willing to be the enablers of authoritarian policies.

“The ideal subject of totalitarian rule is not the convinced Nazi or Communist, but people for whom the distinction between true and false (right and wrong or good and bad) no longer exists.” By: Hannah Arendt (edited for clarity)

Then I saw “a new heaven and a new earth,” for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea. I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Look! God’s dwelling place is now among the people, and he will dwell with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. ‘He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death’ or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.” He who was seated on the throne said, “I am making everything new!” Then he said, “Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.” He said to me: “It is done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. To the thirsty I will give water without cost from the spring of the water of life. Those who are victorious will inherit all this, and I will be their God and they will be my children. But the cowardly, the unbelieving, the vile, the murderers, the sexually immoral, those who practice magic arts, the idolaters and all liars—they will be consigned to the fiery lake of burning sulfur. This is the second death.” Bible, Revelation 21:1-8