Why is There So Much Focus on Making Russia Lose the War in Ukraine?
It is extremely difficult to hurt someone without hurting yourself.
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In America, most of the headlines, the political posturing, and the punditry on the war in Ukraine have one common theme: “Russia must lose”. This is codependence on a vast scale. Our focus on Russia takes our attention away from us. When we focus on Russia, we lose sight of ourselves. I’m not even sure we know what the goals are anymore.
In previous articles, I’ve pointed out that the universe, this place in which we live, is a mirror. It reflects back to us everything we’re thinking and feeling, 24/7. If we feel sad, that comes back to us. We notice said things. If we feel happy, we notice happy things. And if we want someone else to lose, well, we’re going to lose.
We have an almost instinctive response to other people or things that irritate us. I can remember myself as a kid, unloading the dishes from the dishwasher. I had left the door to the cupboard open. I bent down to get dishes to put away, came up fast, and wham! I hit my head on the bottom of the door. Pain! Revenge! Slam the door as hard as I can! Again and again!
The door? It was unfazed. It was fine. It continued to open and close for years to come. But I still felt pain. I was still unhappy.
When people annoy us, we want to punish them. We believe that punishing the people who annoy us is “justice”. We call them “idiots” from our cars when they cut in front of us while driving. We believe that punishment will deter people from being annoying to us again. We often learn that way of thinking from our parents, our caregivers, and perhaps a few unenlightened people in the business of “leadership”.
I remember how “making Trump lose” worked out with Donald Trump in 2016. Liberals punished their friends and relatives for supporting Trump. So Trump’s supporters got quiet. When a pollster called, they lied about who they were going to vote for. A quiet body of “Closet Trumpers” grew without anyone noticing. Punishing those people didn’t change them. It did change the course of history, though.
I’ve spent the last year and a half studying the history of the war in Ukraine and how the war…
