Return of the Red Menace

Okay, Boomer, tell us all about what it was like to grow up under the threat of nuclear war. Didn't you
get to hear the wailing of air raid sirens at least once a month, ducking and covering underneath your school desk to protect you from a nuclear blast, not to mention exiting single file in a quiet and orderly fashion to a safe location? 

Yeah, that was then and this is now. Maybe it's time to return those halcyon days of yore because, guess what folks, the Russians are coming, the Russians are coming...again. Nothing's original anymore, not even in the world theater. There's been a reboot of the scary ass Red Menace, courtesy of comrade Vladimir Putin as he storms his way to the Ukraine to satisfy his insatiable thirst for, what, world domination? Or just to beef up his resume? Who knows what the hell this guy's goal is. I mean what exactly is the end game here, Vlad? To secure your name in the history books as the a number one douchebag of the 21st century? The question remains; What the hell is the matter with you and what are WE doing about it? Well President Joe "Here's the thing" Biden says we're not going to engage them Rooskies in combat as they barge their way through the Ukraine, bombing strategic military targets like maternity hospitals. "No way, homeboy," says Joe. "I'm going to sanction you to death, Mr. Man. I'm going to ruin your economy and, hey, I'm just the guy that can do it too. Look what I'm doing to my own country." 

In the meantime, Ukrainians, led by its president and true to life superhero Volodymyr Zelenskyy, fight for their very existence with everything at their disposal against this Stalin wannabe and third rate bully aka Vlad the Impaler 2.0. Over here in the formerly United States of America, there are those among us actually denouncing the Ukraine and supporting Russia's actions, including the whiny sore loser from the last election. Don't that make you feel patriotic all over?

Should we be scared? These days, there are more things to fear than fear itself. How much do we have left in us after the past few years?  But here we are once again, looking at the end of the world as we know it (thank you for the theme song, REM). What to do, what to do besides take off our masks and continue on because if this crisis is averted, there's going to be another one right around the corner, so what the hell, people? 

Not exactly a brave new world...or is it? If we can learn anything about all this, some people believe it's still worth fighting for, even if what they have left will be nothing more than a pile of rubble and corpses once they are able to return to it at all. While we are pondering over own fate, going back some semblance of a normal life, there are others who merely want to live.

Then again, as history continues to repeat itself on an endless loop, do we ever truly learn anything at all?