"I cannot entertain you when Russian missiles are falling on Ukraine… When residents of Kyiv are forced to hide in basements and in the metro, while people are dying… This is a crime and a catastrophe… I know that most people in Russia are against this war, and I am confident that the more people would talk about their real attitude to it, the faster we can stop this horror…"

Oxxxymiron, (Miron Fyodorov) one of Russia's most popular rappers
quoted in The New York Times, 2/25/2022, from his Instagram account

Dear Friends,

I don't know if Oxxxymiron was influenced by the Beatles or the life and music of John Lennon. Yet in the article quoted above, "he called for an antiwar movement to be created in Russia that would unite people… He referred to American protests against the war in Vietnam as an inspiration."

Like Oxxymiron, my own words fail me right now.

My heart is breaking for the people of Ukraine and for those people of Russia who, for generations, have longed for peace and democracy. The photograph below is a vision of their hopes and dreams. It was made in Central Park on the 20th anniversary of Lennon's assassination.

Since I have no words right now, so I'll leave you with John Lennon's verse:
"Faith in the future, out of the now".

We can't go forward without that.

We are still all in this together; let me know how you're doing.