One Candle.

Last night I attended a hastily assembled prayer vigil in support of Ukraine and the Ukrainian refugees here in Tulsa. We heard from elected officials, folks running for office, and people who are deeply entrenched in this issue, because they themselves are Ukrainian, or because of their efforts to help.

What struck me in the calls for a different approach from this administration than what we have seen in the past few days was the appeal to values. Broadly speaking, there is still a post-WWII ideology that says that the United States values democratic efforts and that we will endorse, support and defend them in the world as the better option to authoritarian regimes. That ideology lies at the base of NATO, our trade policies (at least in the past), our relationship with the EU, and with other partners throughout the world.

There were appeals for peace made last night, but the subtext was that all peace is not equally valid. Peace is not, as Dr. King once said, merely the absence of conflict. It is the presence of justice. And, in this case, the injustice began with an invasion of a sovereign country by a foreign adversary – Russia under Vladimir Putin. This is Putin’s war, Putin’s aggression and, until recently, this is how the government of the United States has viewed it.

This has changed, at least from the President’s position. And that is dangerous not only for Ukraine, but also for the rest of us because if that value of endorsing, supporting and defending democratic efforts has now changed to something else in regards to Ukraine, what does it say about democratic efforts right here?

The writing has been on the wall since before the election, but the mechanisms of co-opted and manipulated campaigning worked to re-elect a person who has already violated the norms we have long held and will do so again, in whatever way he sees fit. Ukraine is the canary in the coal mine, I’m afraid.

We will not find peace, I fear, for some time, because we have scant little justice. We can no longer rely on our elected officials to stem the tide, either. They are proving themselves either unwilling or unable to offer much resistance at all. We have to pack our own sand bags, and build our own fortifications. And I know that feels daunting, but the only way to do that is one bag at a time.

We lit candles at the end of that prayer vigil, the same kinds that are often used in such events. Small, slender, with a little paper shield on them to prevent the wax from dripping. And any one of them alone would have been puny light against the dark of the impending night, but together they gave off a glow that surrounded and buoyed us all.

The news is not getting better. The playbook of those that fewer that 50% of us put into power is being played out. How will you let your light shine against that darkness? How will you look for all of the other small candles?