Greg Fulton: Count your blessings and pray for Ukraine this Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving is a time for us to be thankful for the gifts bestowed upon us. We may be worried about making it to Grandma’s house on time for Thanksgiving dinner or ensuring that the turkey is cooked perfectly, but these concerns are trivial compared to those faced by others in the world.

As we sit down with family and friends to celebrate, we may take for granted that our home has heat, the lights turn on and we have running water. While we may be worried about our heating bills this winter, we have not lost our homes and don’t face periodic shutdowns of our utilities. While we may be concerned about having secure borders, we aren’t worried about Canada or Mexico invading our nation.

Ukrainians’ lives were similar to ours at this time last Thanksgiving. That all changed Feb. 24. when Russia invaded their country. This Thanksgiving, almost half of the population will have no electricity or heat as the Russian military has targeted power and water infrastructure in a perverse strategy to force the Ukrainians to bend to their will. The Ukrainian people also face an unrelenting barrage of missiles and drone attacks with little concern whether they strike civilian targets.

The Ukrainians are much like us. They are hard-working, well-educated people who are proud of their heritage and history, with a good standard of living. They follow many of the same things as Americans, with their clothing, music, literature and artsteeped in the culture of Europe and the U.S. Many U.S. stores and businesses have operations in the Ukraine. Many students from the Ukraine attend colleges in the U.S. This has led to greater bonds between the Ukraine and U.S.

Now, instead of excitement and joy leading up to the Christmas season, there is sadness throughout the country as over 100,000 Ukrainian soldiers and civilians are estimated to have died or been wounded since the beginning of the war. No family has been spared. Everyone has lost a loved one, friend, neighbor or co-worker.

Ukraine has seen many of its cities and towns heavily damaged or destroyed. As a result, the war has forced many to relocate to the safety of other countries. Over 7 million people, or almost 18% of the nation’s population, are refugees in other countries as the war rages on. How many of those people will return to Ukraine is unknown, as many have nothing to return to.

For Ukraine and its people, the impact of this war will be felt for many years to come. The largest number of casualties is younger people, soldiers on the front lines. Ukraine had a population of 43 million people prior to the war, comparable to the population of California, but had been seeing its birth rate fall. The war will further exacerbate this problem, with the loss of so many young people and the forced relocation of so many others.

Russian families also will be having a less than joyous season. Many have lost or seen injured fathers, sons, daughters and friends in a needless war thrust upon them by the ambitions of Vladimir Putin. Others have been imprisoned for opposing the war, while several million young men have fled the country rather than be conscripted to fight in a war they view as unjust. Many Russians have lost their jobs due to Western economic sanctions imposed on Russia, as well as the closure of many foreign companies in response to Russia’s invasion of the Ukraine.

It will take years and billions of dollars to rebuild the Ukraine. Russians have seen their economy damaged to a point where it may take over 20 years to recover.

It’s hard to imagine that this could be happening in 21st-century Europe. We had come to believe that a large-scale conflict of this nature could not occur in Europe after the carnage of World War II. Sadly, we misjudged Putin and his dreams of a Greater Russia inclusive of many of the old Soviet republics.

This Thanksgiving, be thankful for the simple pleasures, like sitting down for dinner in a warm house with family and friends without fear of a missile striking your town. Offer a special prayer for those in the Ukraine and hope that wars like this never happen again.

Greg Fulton is a New Castle native living in Denver.