My husband was at a board meeting (here in the U.S.) the last few days of the week, and while working board business they were also watching in real time events happening while the Americans who live over there and work with Ukrainians gave a lot of insight into the situation.
One neat story is that a friend of theirs has had a prayer for years that Ukrainians would become more united, that people would learn to not fear their neighbors and actually become friends with their neighbors. There was still so much fear and mistrust left over from the Soviet era.
He said that after the events of this week, that prayer was being answered and people were actually smiling and talking to their neighbors, hugging each other and not afraid! They were also crying together. There was a funeral in the Maidan for the many, many who had died, it was just a non-stop event for 24 hours, of singing, tears and speeches – really moving.
The American friends were interpreting a little of the speeches – it was really amazing. Yulia Tymoshenko as everyone knows, was released from prison. She had been badly beaten many times, and is now in a wheelchair. She was a good president. She had put many Christians into cabinet posts and was trying to clean up corruption. She spoke at the funeral service and praised the Ukrainians, saying that “they (the average people who worked together to win the battle) were the real heroes.”
Another neat thing is that the Orthodox priests and other pastors in Kiev have been wonderful. They are using a big orthodox church in downtown Kiev as a makeshift hospital, and they are allowing them to bring the wounded in to the cathedral, and all are working together to gather food, medicine and other help.
The priests and pastors, and leaders of Maidan are also urging everyone not to vindictively seek revenge. Hold criminals accountable, yes, but not to bitterly extend the violence for revenge.
One example is that one of the instances where it was reported that the protesters had “kidnapped” some of the police was completely mis-reported. A lot of the police were young kids that Yanuvich had brough in from poor regions of Ukraine, who were desparate for jobs and money. The Maidan people had captured a group of these "police", but they didn’t kidnap them, they turned the bus around and sent it back to their hometown! That is a lot of mercy for these kids who had been really brutal to them in other situations.
I truly believe, in contrast to many of the cynical on FR, that this is a true revolution (or maybe counter-revolution?) of ordinary people who just want to be free of this corrupt government, not a movement fueled by the NWO, or Nazis,or Muslims, or John McCain or other theories. They have been oppressed for decades, first by Soviets, then by Nazis, then by Soviets again, and finally by these mafia/oligarchs who are really just the old corrupt Soviet elites under a different name. Even though they were “officially” not part of the Soviet Union, they had still not completely thrown off the bonds of those days.
Not to say some bad elements won’t try to take advantage of the somewhat chaotic situation right now.I'm sure there are many on the fringes just hoping to find a way to corrupt the system to benefit and put themselves into power.
I ask Freepers to please pray for Ukraine, that they would continue showing mercy, that they would really have free and fair elections,that they would have wisdom and find really honest people to represent them, and that Putin wont try to re-enact 1956 Hungary.
Here is a good article:
On the Maidan, the birth of a real Ukrainian civil society
The Maidan, therefore, has not spawned a civil war, but the birth of an authentic Ukrainian civil society. It is the culmination of an agonizing 20-year process of de-Sovietization of Ukrainian society, a process that has progressed faster in some regions than in others. The Maidan is a watershed moment, when the nation shed the mental chains of Soviet paternalism. One opposition leader described the statues of Lenin being spontaneously hauled down around the country as Ukraine’s psychological Berlin Wall. It is characterized by a shift in mentality – a distrust of all of the country’s institutions, including political parties, governing or opposition.
awesome post. Thank You
Thank you very much for that report. Prayers for Ukraine.
For their freedom and from any outside influence that may not have the best interest of the people as their motivation.
Thank you for that link. It certainly sheds a lot of light on things. Makes me think John McCain is over there trying to jump in front of the parade and tell everyone he is leading it.
Great post, btw! :-)