Blind Sided From a Million Miles Away

As I drove to work (in my new car!) today, my mom called me. I was surprised to hear the phone ring at that time of day and I answered it and my mom gave me just enough information to cause concern in my head (heart).

I don't know the entire story but I know that there is an uproar in Ukraine right now over the election results (hey, haven't most Americans heard that one before???). Viktor Yanukovych was announced as the next prime minister for the country. Viktor Yushchenko was announced as being defeated.

From what I can gather, Yanukovych's win makes some thing conspiracy theory because of his promises to help Russia (the Kremlin).

There have been reports of demonstrating in the streets of Kiev (Kyiv - pick your spelling) and possible rioting to come.

I don't know much about the politics of either side. I'm not overly concerned about that (although I probably should be). What has me thinking of this topic and blogging about the situation in Ukraine is a man I fell in love with in June of 1998.

I've written about Andriy before (yes, he's referred to as Alex in the post). Even though life throws some wicked curve balls at you, I still treasure my time with him in my heart and I do miss him. Not every day, but most I think of him for a moment or two. I wonder how his life is going, is he happy? I hold no desires to marry him or live with him forever, but I do wish him happiness.

And any news about Ukraine always panics me.

What is adding to my concerns is the fact that Andriy is actually a lawyer who helps write laws for parliament. He works on political campaigns and has told me that he was involved in the push to have Viktor Yushchenko elected. Andriy helped (and even though the translation is a little off, I think he had a large part in this) to form a political party called Youth Ukraine (translation off a little here). He was trying to start a movement of younger people to get involved in politics.

When he stayed here, Andriy explained to me about some of the political campaigns he worked on. There was worry about returning and losing. Not just the worry I, as an American, would understand fully. If the candidate I backed lost, my life would probably still go on as usual. For him, there was fear for his life in returning if his candidate lost. There were a couple of campaigns that if lost, his family would be in danger.

It's a concept I don't truly understand and naturally it causes me to worry. Is this campaign the same?

Is Andriy safe? That's the thought in my head tonight and I may never know.

I emailed him tonight, hoping to receive an answer soon. If I find out anything, I'm sure I'll share it.

To me, this event is not just a news bit. If there is anything I can say I learned from my time with Andriy, it's that it's not just a blurb. Events happening around the world are affecting the individuals living there. Those individuals have hopes, dreams, friends, family, desires, pain, memories, and cares just like I do. I wish the news reported the wonderful things too.

Two links that I checked out:

CBC News - this one mentions the city Andriy lives in but he also works in Kiev
BBC News - much better for world news than any American news sites

From the CBC News link:

'Civil conflict' looming, candidate warns

On Tuesday, Yushchenko warned that the country was on the "threshold of civil conflict" because of dissatisfaction with the results.

"We have two choices: either the answer will be given by the parliament, or the streets will give an answer," Yushchenko told lawmakers gathered for an emergency session of parliament.

This worries me. Thanks for listening.

3 Comments:

At 8:35 AM, CarpeDM said...

I will be praying that he'll be okay. That the country will be okay.

At 8:46 AM, Matt said...

Beth,
You know that I do not pray, I have given up on that about four years ago, but I will be thinking good thoughts onlly, and I hope that in some cosmic way that sends enough of a wave to create some form of peacefulness for him and his country. I am also sending some your way. I do hope that everything is ok, and it would be nice for him to e-mail if he is able to. I will talk to you later, take care.
Big Brother,
Matt

At 4:35 PM, The Lioness said...

I hope he's alright. Ukranians are tough cookies. Hang on to that.