The McGrath Minute

“We are not afraid, not panicking. We wont lay down our arms and wont allow any tyrants, any murderers to dictate their terms. We won’t let them take any single millimeter of our own ground. Maybe this is our last video. I don’t know if I were a good person or bad. Only God knows the answer. But I know myself as a Good Citizen and I am a Good Soldier. I am my country’s de[fense]; her guarantee in peace, her Shield and her Sword at this wartime. No matter who you are or how many of you come, come here and you will taste our fury. Get over our land! We will fight to the last bullet, and when they run out, we will fight with our bare hands. We will fight on ground and water and under the ground, and up in the skies. Nobody of you would return back alive. You all DIE here. And our country will be prosperous and free. Glory to Ukraine! Glory to the Heroes!”

– Unnamed Ukranian Infantry Company Commander taken from the Facebook page “Terminal Lance”

I never thought I would ever see the day where I would learn a lesson in liberty from Ukraine, a country who gained it’s sovereignty and independence when the Soviet Union dissolved in 1991. I was always taught that Americans were guaranteed by the Declaration of Independence, “Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness”. Lately, we have taken our freedom too much for granted and even this previous statement has become controversial. Our American forefathers believed that they were fighting against a tyrannical and oppressive government that would enact it’s will on the American colonies. It feels, as of late, that when I think about the American Revolution they are now just words on a page and most people only care about what information is fed them on Facebook or TikTok. The media wants to describe America as an evil racist country. We have taken our freedom for granted.

But then Russia invaded Ukraine because Vladimir Putin believes that Ukraine belongs to the Russian Republic. Russian cruise missiles and Grad rockets are being fired indiscriminately into Ukraine with little regard of where they land. Children are being killed as they are riding their bikes down the street. We are watching the reincarnation of the Evil Empire in the flesh consume and destroy everything in its path. We are watching what a true sadistic and psychopath will do when left unchecked.

I have always been taught that the opposite of hate is love. I see love for a country that is evident in the fight for its survival. We are watching military aged males being separated from their families because they are needed to fight to uphold the democracy and freedom of Ukraine. Ukrainian men and women are selflessly sacrificing themselves because they have chosen to stand up to the manifestation of tyranny in the flesh of the Russian invaders. The Ukrainians are so desperate for the survival of their country that they are handing out weapons to anyone available and willing to fight. Even an 80 year old hero attempted to join the army because he wanted to fight for his grandchildren. Let that sink in for a second. CIVILIANS are standing up, ready to fight to preserve everything that they hold dear to their hearts.

In the United States we have what we call continuity of government. The politicians will do everything to preserve the government. But we never have had to execute that plan in the event of some sort of national emergency threatening the existence of our country. The president of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelensky, has chosen to stay and fight for his country in its moment of darkness. Other countries have offered to help evacuate him so that he can be taken to safety, which he has refused. It is not my job to question his decisions from the comfort of my couch at home, but he has earned my respect for being a decisive and effective leader.

Freedom and liberty are not just words that we say when we hold our hands over our hearts. We have to remind ourselves that freedom is something that must be earned everyday because if and when our moment of truth comes, we will need to rely on more than just words or sanctions. I will use a famous quote from the great president Ronald Reagan, “Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction. We didn’t pass it to our children in the bloodstream. It must be fought for, protected, and handed on for them to do the same, or one day we will spend our sunset years telling our children and our children’s children what it was once like in the United States [world]? where men were free.”