How are you supposed to go about your everyday life when wars are raging abroad? Julian Morozoff tells us his Perspective.
It was a sunny February morning 2 years ago when we got the news. I was just waking up, when my dad burst into my room, really upset.
“Something bad happened,” he said. We both sat down on my bed. “Last night, Russia invaded Ukraine.”
Silence.
A million thoughts rushed through my head. When? Why? Are the people there ok?
The news unfolded, bit by bit. Every new story was even worse.
My dad’s family is of half Russian and half Ukrainian descent, but before the war, I never felt like I had to explain that. We always just said we were Russian. My family hasn’t lived there for 3 generations, but the culture and Orthodox religion are a part of our lives in so many ways.
My grandmother always makes us blinchiki when my cousins and I sleep over, and she taught me Russian for 10 minutes every day during the Covid lockdown. Every Orthodox Easter, my grandparents always host a huge party for 80 people and we spend the day roasting a lamb. We all fought over whose turn it was to sit under the sun umbrella and turn the spit. My grandmother would bake Ukrainian buns with coins inside them for luck, and we would crack hard boiled eggs against each other to see who had the best luck for the year.
We all thought the war would be over soon. We made plans for the party and invited all our friends. But by April of 2022, the war was still raging. And when Orthodox Easter rolled around, no one felt that it was right to celebrate.
It felt especially wrong, knowing that one part of our heritage was fighting the other, like brother against brother. Thousands of people with similar backgrounds, culture and beliefs, fighting each other — not because they wanted to, but because some old tyrant told them to.
Now, it’s been over two years since Russia invaded Ukraine, and people are still being slaughtered in the streets. Orthodox Easter has just passed, and we have not celebrated for the third year in a row. Although the U.S. just finally agreed to send in support, it is too little, too late, and people in Ukraine are suffering. There are other terrible things happening in the world, but this is terrible, too. It seems like nobody cares about Ukraine anymore, but it still matters to me.
With a Perspective, I’m Julian Morozoff.
Julian Morozoff is an 8th grader in Marin County. He likes soccer and biking with his friends. He lives with his mom, dad and his Golden Retriever, Augie.
