Glory to Ukraine
I struggle to think of any leader in modern history who has carried the agony of an entire nation on his shoulders with such quiet dignity, such relentless resolve, and such unwavering commitment to pulling his people out of darkness and toward a livable future. Volodymyr Zelenskyy has endured not only the brutality of an indicted war criminal bent on his country’s destruction, but the betrayal of the president of the most powerful nation on earth, a man willing to pocket his thirty pieces of silver from the Kremlin while abandoning an ally whose soldiers once stood shoulder to shoulder with American troops on the battlefields of Iraq.
Zelenskyy is not merely a wartime president. He is a leader who will, without question, take his place in the pantheon of history’s greats. You can see it etched into his face, the sleepless nights, the grief, the weight of tens of thousands of innocent Ukrainian lives lost, a pain he carries not as a political burden, but as a moral one. And yet, even as the White House turns its back and aids his country’s suffering through complicity, he stands firm, unbroken, and fiercely devoted to his people.
Putin thought he could roll into Ukraine and the world would roll over. Instead, he met a wall of strength he never imagined. He met the Ukrainian people.
Glory to Ukraine.
—Michael Jochum, Not Just a Drummer: Reflections on Art, Politics, Dogs, and the Human Condition.
