Progress in the Ukraine

With the fighting slowing down and the ceasefire seeming to have positive effects on the Ukraine, we are still left with the question to answer, what now?  After all of this conflict, what is the country to do to either unite or separate, into whatever solution leads to the most success for the region?  I don't know the answer, but either way, there will be some portion of the population that will feel almost like the colonized individuals we have read about in multiple stories for class.  While the disparity is not a severe as it was for the Africans, the tension between the ideologies will still be fresh.  How long will it take before one group starts blaming the other for problems again, or one group feels like its being occupied by another in their country, or mistreatment and bigotry rises up again.  Hopefully the transition will be much more fluid and successful that my somewhat dour look on life is, but sadly, as highlighted in not only these stories but human history, this is almost never the case. 

LGBT Laws in Russia

While I am not sure if everyone is aware of this, but in Russia there is a law that prohibits what is referred to as, "homosexual propaganda."  This was passed in June of last year, and has sparked controversy ever since.  Life in Russia for LGBT individuals has been bad for a while, but the passing of this bill has almost endorsed this horrible treatment, and has gotten even worse.  We have seen this confusion about how to treat those that are different from the accepted norm specifically in the the story, "Witchcraft."  Mma-Mabele got treated with misunderstanding and look what her experience was like and became.  While this example in the book is different than the way things are playing out in Russia, there is still something we can learn from the story and help us to empathize as well as sympathize with those that are different. 

Suicides and Unemployment

I saw this heartbreaking article today while looking through the news that stated that 45,000 people from 63 countries, kill themselves due to unemployment over a year.  There was a few quotes that I wanted to pull out that help to characterize the sort of people who may do this and why that I found really interesting. 

"Employment is tied to identity.  When people lose a sense of identity and purpose it becomes problematic for them. For someone who is particularly vulnerable or at risk, if you add on a loss of sense of purpose, the risk goes up."

"Men are notoriously bad at help-seeking, and their lack of self-care and accepting and taking support from others can cost them their lives."

These quotes sound an awful lot like a character in All Things Fall, Okonkwo.  Whom we all now take the same action as these people, and it for similar reasons.  Is there more we can learn from All Things Fall, and apply it today with this knowledge?


https://news.vice.com/article/unemployment-is-killing-45000-people-each-year