I don’t often come to you with world events.
Clarksdale and Coahoma County are my pond and there are plenty of fish around here to fry.
But the situation in Ukraine has me concerned.
I grew up in a military family. The threat of armed conflict and the need to go to stations far away to make the world safe were always very real and personal.
While Ingrams studied places named Korea, Vietnam, Germany and Israel in school, there was always talk around our supper table about how these places affected our house in Mississippi.
American culture has become so introverted peering into a cellphone. We don’t realize there is a large part of the world worried about their next meal, clean water and if a bomb might fall out of the sky on their little house.
Ukraine
The Ukraine is the breadbasket of Eastern Europe. I saw a statistic where Russia and Ukraine account for 29 percent of global exports of wheat. They also contribute 19 percent of global corn and 80 percent of global sunflower oil exports.
Wheat futures jumped 12-percent when Russian tanks cross the border into Ukraine.
The politics then quickly spread to the Russian gas pipeline to Germany, and gas prices climbed in the U.S.
Bankers began getting edgy with the threat of cutting Russia’s connection with the global transfer or payment network SWIFT. The stockmarket has been a rollercoaster.
And China, with an eye on Taiwan and the South China Sea, said no government should interfere with the military decisions of other countries. Violence always begats violence.
I think it is easy to see that events in a place half-way around the world really do have an effect on a sleepy little town in the Mississippi Delta.
Troops
My son Jacob called right after the invasion of Ukraine.
He was the one that almost went into the military to pay for college. Some days I wish he had. Today I’m glad he didn’t.
He lives in Austin, Texas and his company just hired a young man from Ukraine. Immigration is a big deal in Texas and Jacob talked about this country needing to be a place of refuge for those trying to escape evil and who come here with good intentions and a desire to become good Americans.
We talked about the military and a high school friend he had that was being sent to Germany last week.
I don’t think America needs to be the world’s policeman. I do think we need to stand with people yearning to be free.
A face in the crowd
There are 41 million people living in Ukraine. Of that number 72-percent declare to be Christian and the country has one of the highest levels of church attendance in Eastern Europe.
My mother has made two mission trips to Ukraine. She worked with an orphanage and taught locals how to hold a Vacation Bible School.
For the past 10 years she has regularly gotten Christmas cards from a Ukrainian pastor, his wife and three boys. Did I tell you my mother had three boys?
She talked the other day about where they might be and what each might be facing. “It’s different when you hear news and can put a face with the people there,” she explained.
As you go off to sleep tonight please say a prayer of thanks for peace and the safety in your neighborhood and please say a prayer for those in chaos in Ukraine.
Floyd Ingram is Editor of your Clarksdale Press Register. He loves Clarksdale, but realized we live in a mean and complex world. Call him at 662-627-2201 with your world views.
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