Spent the afternoon listening to lots of blues from Otis and Buddy, a bit of Etta and a splash o’ Nat mixed in (although Nat’s not really blues, is he? Someone clue me in here, please.) Music begging to be danced to. So that’s what I did. And another photo shoot. Meanwhile, tempting as it’s been to share Ukraine 
stuff, when I see a photo of the Russian bombing of a Ukrainian kindergarten over there, I have to stop myself and say, but wait, that’s what my country has done — in Iraq and Afghanistan most recently — and I imagine countless other places — so I certainly can’t point my finger. So what to do? Yes, we can send money, yes we can protest and send troops, but frankly, what ELSE can we do, people? Because this is what governments do — and by governments I mean people in power — because people in power, whether you call them King or President or General, Duke, Lord, Colonel or Princess — this is what they do. They are NOT us. Not Trump, not Biden, not Clinton, McConnell, none of ‘em, Democrats or Republicans — NONE of THEM are US. I think this is why I’ve come to love science fiction in my later life. I’m realizing how close to reality many of the books I’ve read in the past few decades actually are. I’m thinking science fiction has maybe been the canary in the coal mine all along.
Yes, maybe our country has bombed places where innocent men, women and children are but never as an outward act of aggression.
We have always been the “helping” and I use that word loosely. Engaging in a war, killing innocent people isn’t a way to help.
The greedy politicians, who use their power to wage war should be on the front lines feeling the hurt and pain and witnessing death by war first hand.
Your last line sums up the gist of what I asked my father when I was 8 years old and he told me he had to go fight a war in Vietnam. I asked him why the people who make the wars don’t have to fight them. He told me it was his job. There’s an excellent documentary called “Why We Fight” from 2005. Eisenhower’s farewell address at the beginning, warning us of the corrupting influence of the military-industrial complex is brilliant and heartfelt.