Like many of you, I have spent the past month struggling to process the horror being inflicted on Ukraine.
Like many of you, I have also been astounded by the courage and idealism demonstrated by Ukraine’s president and so many of its people.
“I see no sense in life,” Volodymyr Zelensky told the U.S. Congress, “if it cannot prevent the deaths.”
“We need not just food or water —we need our culture,” said Vera Lytovchenko, a violinist for the Kharkiv Theater of Opera and Ballet. She and many other musicians have been performing in basements and bomb shelters. “We still have our music, and we still have our hope.”
In an effort to help us process the emotions many of us have been feeling as we witness Russia’s relentless atrocities and the Ukrainians’ astonishing fortitude, I reached out to a U.S. Army veteran who has used the power of poetry and prose to help elevate our understanding of war.
Kevin Powers was a machine-gunner with a unit assigned to find roadside bombs (IEDs) in Iraq during 2004 and 2005.
His novel, The Yellow Birds, inspired by that experience, is widely acclaimed as one of the best, most affecting works of contemporary war fiction.
I invited Powers to join me for a Wavemaker Conversation after I came across a line in a foreword that he wrote for Slaughterhouse Five — a book he described as being “dedicated to the alleviation and prevention of human suffering in the face of its inevitability ….”
How to alleviate and prevent human suffering is exactly what I wanted to explore, both in the context of Ukraine and more broadly.
I think you will find that Kevin Powers’ stories and reflections provide insights that can help each of us live a more meaningful, impactful life in a world in which extreme brutality and selflessness coexist.
Please click play, below, to listen to our full conversation.
To Help Ukrainians:
Below, please find several lists of trusted organizations and individuals that are providing humanitarian aid to Ukrainians inside the country and to the waves of refugees who have fled to neighboring countries. The lists have been compiled by Yale University historian Timothy Snyder, one of the world’s foremost experts on Ukraine. You can find his suggestions on where to donate here, and here, and here.