Reality doesn’t take a vacation.
I was reminded of that while stretched out on a lounge chair overlooking the azure, navy and purple waves dancing in front of me in Mexico. Nearby people laughed and talked animatedly in German. Three women from somewhere in the Eastern U.S. were gossiping about not inviting Erin Wilson on their midwinter getaway. Staff dressed in sky blue polo shirts with a white long-sleeved undershirt underneath to protect from the unrelenting sun, whisked away empty cups or carried trays of various colored drinks.
Alexei Navalny was murdered.
That went through my mind as I watched all this luxuriant freedom being shared by thousands of us holiday seekers from every spot in the free world. German, British, Canadian, Polish, Italian, South Americans and Americans. And some nationalities that I couldn’t discern where they were from.
Alexei Navalny was murdered.
It hit me in such a way that when I heard the news, I teared up. It was a personal sucker punch from that malevolent man, Vladimir Putin. It made me angry. Angry that he would predictably extinguish the life of a caged prisoner because he wants to rule Russia forever. He can only rule through fear. Such people like Putin, have no soul. And people with no soul act with shark-like instinct. It is killed or be killed. We cannot fool ourselves about Putin.
Alexei Navalny was murdered.
That he knew he was going to be murdered was a foregone conclusion. He was a “Daniel in a lion’s den” sort of man. Except he knew that he was going to be killed and consumed by the pride of a lion hellbent on hell. Hellbent on grinding opposition under his heel.
I looked out across the sandy beach. Little kids were digging in the sand. Gulls cried and squabbled over bits of food dropped by tourists. The wind was warm and lulling. People strode by, dressed in beachwear, enjoying an escape from wherever they lived. "Perhaps they chose to come to this side of the world, far from where war rages. A subconscious thing," I thought.
Alexei Navalny was murdered.
Navalny was murdered because our own country right now is paralyzed by partisanship. Navalny was murdered because that weak person, Tucker Carlson, headed over and kowtowed to his murderer. Carlson’s professed love of all things Putin should remind people that not too long ago, such traitors would be ran out of town on a rail. Weakness is blood in the water for such people like Putin. People who continue to think that just because the sun rises in the east, our own world is safe from such idiots and sharks makes me angry. We are not.
Alexei Navalny was murdered.
Navalny decided that his life should not be given up in vain. After his poisoning, (also ordered by Putin) he made the decision that he would have to give up his life in Russia. Anyone watching his return by airplane to Russia realized how brave his (and his family’s decision) were. It was an act of love. And sacrifice.
On the beach, another day of relaxation and recreation was unfolding. In a world in which people still have the freedom to have such relaxation and recreation. Where for a little while, the world’s worries had to wait. But eventually reality returned, found me, and whispered the sad news.
Alexei Navalny was murdered.
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