From Ukraine to Taiwan: A Collective Suffering

I barely slept since Monday 21 Feb.

There’s a shift in the air.

My racing mind, never at ease, vibrating with the changing energies.

And it happened, the news of Russia invaded Ukraine. I was overwhelmed by the news. An omnipresent tension kept me awake and alert at all times.

Why are we doing this to each other, time after time?

Why can we not just let people live their lives on their own terms?

People are all we’ve got.

All the wars in the world, are fought with such a strong sense of righteousness. They subscribe to a cage of limiting beliefs and choose violence because it’s easier than peace.

It’s narcissism, it’s greed, it’s power & control, it’s toxic masculinity, it’s a collective mental crisis.

Yet all I can sense are misery and fears. We are all cousins on this planet, bonded by the network of life. Their pain isn’t limited to them — hurt people hurt people — there is no escape.

My grandfather was a victim of the wheel of history. He everything to war — his home and family — and came to Taiwan as a refugee. He often spoke of military, wars and ideologies with detest. He told stories of immense suffering and loss. His trauma lives within me, even after he is long gone.

And now they said, “Taiwan is next”. They may be words but they carry tremendous weight. It’s livelihoods, it’s loved ones, it’s a land with living souls.

I often dreamt as a child that one day China would invade Taiwan and take away everything I love. In my nightmare, I would have my last phone with my mother, where she told me to live my life and never look back.

I couldn’t sleep last night. As history is taking place right before my eyes, where my cousins are suffering and dying, I just want to hug them and say, “It will be okay. It may not be this lifetime, but it will be okay.”