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Words escape us as the horrors taking place in the Ukraine continue unabated. Human beings are obliterating other human beings for no reason. Families are hiding in subway stations. Infirmed children are put on trains to safely take them to Poland, reminiscent of the Kindertransport. Europe continues to be the central story in yet another war where neighbors are unable to live in peace and harmony. Vladimir Putin has expressed the perceived disrespect from the fall of the USSR that started December 26, 1991, and aims to restore the glory lost. It is not much different in other countries around the world. Iran still mourns the demise of the Persian Empire in 330 BCE, over 2350 years ago! Turkey mourns the breakup of the Ottoman Empire after WWII. China is still smarting from their treatment by the Japanese during WWII. Either this is a psychologist’s field day or nightmare, depending upon your perspective. Carrying a grudge for so long clearly decays from the inside, until something indescribable replaces the humanity that once filled that person. I was pondering this as I was reciting the Psalm for Tuesday:

                God rises in the court of the mighty, pronouncing judgment over rulers:

                “How long will you pervert justice? How long will you favor the wicked?

                Champion the weak and the orphan; uphold the downtrodden and the destitute.

                Rescue the weak and the needy; save them from the grip of the wicked.”

                But they neither know nor understand; they wander about in darkness while the earth’s foundations are shaken.       

                I thought you were Godlike, children of the Most High, but you will die like mortals; like any prince will you fall.

                Arise, O God, and judge the earth, for Your dominion is over all nations.

King David wrote these words of Psalm 82 over 3,000 years ago. Clearly we haven’t evolved as all this time has transpired. To know exactly what you are doing, to ignore the harm that you have caused innocents, to not care about the impact to our own people and nation, to show the world what you really are clearly doesn’t matter.

I thought of the traumatized people of the Ukraine as I read the following in Psalm 6:

                Weary am I with groaning and weeping, nightly my pillow is soaked with tears. Grief dims by eyes; they are worn out                    with all my woes. Away with you, doers of evil!

If it was only so easy to pray it and have it happen. We are supposed to be God’s partners on this planet, stewards of a place that is only rented to us, charged with doing our best to maintain our home. We have failed miserably, O God. Can you ever forgive us?