anomie of ordinary luck in a time of heat and war

---

I’m unremarkably lucky among persons not living with intense heat or war. As a news junkie, I regularly feel gratitude and depressing sadness —and anger: How many Ukrainian civilians must die before a conspiracy of confidantes arrests Putin and sends him to The Hague?

After a Ukrainian drone recently hit the Crimean Bridge, Putin went on TV to declare, with hardened jaw, that the “act of terrorism” which killed “two innocent civilians” and which was “cruel” justified retaliation, presumably through more Russian missiles, having already killed many innocent civilians in Ukraine.

The dictator has a mentality worthy of Hitler. Maybe the only option is
to snuff the beast, knowing that such nobility would also bring death
to the hero, but merely two, to save thousands of Ukrainians, maybe
tens of thousands.

Countering good and evil has become so trite, one might forget that the difference is tragically real. Unfortunate enough is the valiant war of medical science against malignant biology. The contest between demo-
cracy and autocracy is a war against malignant power.

I can easily feel that conceptual venturing is a kind of useless luxury, even though I’ve done what I can over the decades to care and to support educational excellence.

Instituting reliable humanity is an intergenerational commitment, investment, and engagement, just as the luck we’ve had is due to the same which our ancestors gave.

Devotion to actualization of the best ideas, living for want of better humanity, and loving to be alive makes bearing witness worthwhile.