As my favorite holiday of the year has arrived, I’m saddened that I’m not able to celebrate our Independence Day with all of those I love. Being 8000 miles from home, I’m able to focus more on the actual meaning of our Independence Day rather than embellish in the symbolic celebration. Or in other words… Party.
For the past 9 weeks, I’ve spent time in two countries. Romania and Poland. In Romania, I’m working as an advisor in an oil and gas operation. Just like all of Eastern Europe, Romania is feeling the choke hold of Russia trying to force its hand by cutting off their energy supply. In Poland, I was able to explore a little but was mostly busy with a music tour over the area of Greater Poland. Both countries are on edge as the threat of Russian invasion looms in the mind of every single person. Although the people of both countries are some of the greatest people I’ve ever met, an old ideology still haunts the faces of every single person I both saw and met. The horrible evil of communism.
Poland and Romania are two countries now free of communist rule, but only by a single generation. The complete collapse of the Soviet Union came in 1992. As you walk down the street, no one makes eye contact. It was barely over 30 years ago that you could be killed for making eye contact with the wrong person. I’ve heard how people from Poland in their 50’s and 60’s didn’t know what it was like to have grand parents, because their grand parents were killed by the Germans during World War 2, or by the evil atrocities of Stalin’s communist regime immediately following.
While in Poland, I met lots of Ukrainian refugees. I’ve heard the evil acts of the Russians in their invasion of a sovereign Ukraine. Acts such as rape, bombing and executions of civilians, and even genocide. I even heard a story about how the Russian soldiers were raping and killing women, then stealing their jewelry and sending it back to their wives and girlfriends back home. I heard the stories of Russian soldiers using barbed wire on the genitals of both male and female Ukrainian soldiers as means of torture. I’ve watched the refugees pour out of the train stations, their most treasured possessions in what bags they could carry, tears streaming down their faces, unsure where they will go and if they will have a home to return to. Communism is an evil that continues to haunt this region!
In the USA, we are not free from the threat of communism. We are even electing leaders who are communist, hidden under the disguise of socialism. We have elected officials who actually believe in the system of communism. A system that has proven through the ages that it will only end in evil and tragedy. Our youth is edging toward this radical ideology and it seems like there’s no way we can slow the burn. Why? Because we refuse to listen to them. We shut them down, blow them off, and refuse to engage in conversation with them. We’re forcing our agenda without any reasoning that they can understand. We’re changing history by allowing our schools to eliminate history, tearing down statues of the past, and rewriting history so that it doesn’t offend anyone. We’re eliminating our past so that future generations can no longer learn from the mistakes of our forefathers.
America is a beacon of hope for the entire world. The world depends on our democracy to continue to set the balance. I am so proud of my country and I pray that we can find a way to come together, bridge the divide, and find ourselves back at the top for the greater good of mankind. As we celebrate our independence, I ask that you all focus on what our independence truly means. The pride of America is a saving grace for the entire world.
God bless the United States of America!