Who is Vladimir Putin? He was born in 1952 in St. Petersburg (formerly Leningrad) and is currently 69 years old. He was named after his grandfather, Vladimir, who was a personal cook for Lenin and Stalin. His mother was a factory worker and his father served in the navy.
He has served four terms as president since 2000 and was married in 1983 and divorced in 2014. He has two children and maybe a third. He exercises daily, is fluent in German and can converse in English. He served in the KGB for 15 years. He is worth about $40 to $70 billion, maybe even as high as $200 billion.
What else should we know about Putin? He is a thug, a murderer, a despot and will do anything to maintain power. He follows in the footsteps of one of his predecessors, Joseph Stalin, who was responsible for the death of 6 million people. Like Stalin, he has no regard for human life.
What about Volodymyr Zelenskyy? He is 44 years old and a former comedian and actor who also has a law degree. He has served as President of Ukraine since 2019. He was born to Jewish parents in 1978. He is married and has two children. Besides being fluent in Ukrainian, he is also fluent in English and Russian. His net worth is about $1.5 million.
What can we learn from Putin and Zelenskyy? By the time you read this Kyiv will, most likely, have fallen into Russian hands or maybe the peace talks will have worked. Who knows how this tragedy will eventually conclude? What we do know is that Putin is the world’s most dangerous despot. Conversely, according to retired Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman, Zelenskyy is now the leader of the democratic world.
Do you find it interesting that the vast majority of people in power are men—not only in the United States but in the world? What would happen if women were in control? Do you think the current situation in Ukraine would have originated?
Women have more compassion. You might say they have a vested interest in every living soul. Do you know of any women despots who now are in power? There also have been very few in history.
Given the choice of electing a woman or a man in politics and everything being equal in terms of qualifications, I would elect a woman for one reason. Our chances of living a full life would be greater.
It was refreshing to watch the Olympics again. We saw thousands of athletes from all over the world coming together to compete. They all spoke different languages, ate different foods, dressed differently and had different skin colors. Still, they all got along as if they were all partners in some grand mission.
What is it about the Olympic spirit that results in peace and harmony? The athletes were men and women, probably in their 20s and early 30s. They valued education. Most, if not all, had college degrees. They seemed to place a high priority on others. Did you notice all of the hugging and genuine concern for one another?
If we had to do away with all of the people in power in the world and let these athletes take over the job of running the world, would we be better off? It would be an interesting experiment—would it not? We certainly couldn’t do any worse.
What can we learn from the Olympics? We have it within us to shape a world where human dignity is respected above anything else. We need to begin treating everyone as partners and the Olympics represent a good model.
There’s an old saying that is taken from the ‘60s. Young people made posters and signs and even had T-shirts with the words, “Give peace a chance.”
I have been on this planet now for 70-plus years and the only time I can recall where there was somewhat of a sense of peace was in the ‘50s. Unfortunately, it was mostly white people that experienced it. We had the Cold War, but no major global wars. People were saying that we learned our lesson in World War II, but, of course, that was short-lived with the Vietnam War developing in the ‘60s.
Is a peaceful world possible? It isn’t if we allow despots to have power. It isn’t if we allow politics to corrupt us to the point where remaining in power takes precedence over human rights and human lives. It isn’t if we cannot realize the value of forming partnerships with all people regardless of cultural differences.
Yes, peace is possible and we should never stop striving to make it our No. 1 goal. What does it take? Eleanor Roosevelt is pretty close to finding an answer. “It isn’t enough to talk about peace. One must believe in it. And it isn’t enough to believe in it. One must work at it.” Maybe, just maybe, the war in Ukraine will cause us to work harder at peace and give it a chance.
Riddle: Why is it bad to write on an empty stomach? (Answer: It’s not so bad but paper is better.) Let’s pray that the Ukraine refugees do not have many days of empty stomachs.
Thanks to Fusion Dance Studio and Tall Fox Studios for being the most recent to support our 100% graduation rate goal.
John R. Eggers of Bemidji is a former university professor and area principal. He also is a writer and public speaker.
