Why We Admire Zelenskyy

At a recent gathering, someone mentioned he had never heard anything negative about this man who has appeared center stage on the world’s radar since February. Another guest chimed in that it was most unusual for a foreign “politician” to be admired by so many other countries than his own. My mind keeps going back to this conversation as I pray for the brave people of Ukraine and their leader and I’ve decided to put some thoughts down on paper, though I have never written a political opinion before. Both Larry Jackson and Jeff Wick have taught me the danger in this.

Perhaps we admire him because, in the face of unequal odds, Ukraine’s president stands his ground. Because he proves the truth of the old adage that one man with courage makes a majority. Because he shows that honor and love of country are virtues we forsake at our own perils. Because he is the furtherest thing from the average politician who caters to what he thinks people want to hear and will do and say anything in order to be re-elected.

Perhaps we admire Zelenskyy because he reminds us of how rare these traits have become among our own politicians. He was formerly an actor who used his celebrity to become a statesman. Western politics is overrun, I believe, by people who play-act as statesmen so they may ultimately become celebrities.

Perhaps we admire Zelenskyy because he embodies two great Old Testament archetypes: David in the face of Goliath and Moses in the face of Pharaoh. He is the savvy and brave underdog who, with skill and wit, makes up for what he lacks in artillery with fearsomeness and brawn and.

This leads in to tell you why Brenda Miles is disappointed in the leadership she has seen in her older years. I have voted for both parties in my voting years, choosing the person I thought would be the better leader rather than for the party itself. Today, I am disappointed to some degree by both major parties. I do not live in Ukraine, but I find America at war with herself and that, my friends, I find more formidable than a Russian attack which could become a real possibility in the near future. To me, Vladimir Putin is pure evil. This Russian dictator stands for the idea that truth exists to serve power, not the other way around, and that politics is in the business of manufacturing propaganda for those who will swallow it and imposing terror on those who will not. I do not feel he has a conscience, just a desire for power and subjection.

My greatest fear is from America’s shortcomings. We are losing confidence in our leaders. Party over anything else is seen in our Congress—our governing body. It is us against them so they refuse to try to work together to reach “across the aisle” for solid discussion or compromise. Why? Because their constituents may not re-elect them. They remind me of children saying, “If you don’t want to play my game, then I am picking up my toys and going home.” Hate has overcome love in our society in this “Land of the Free”. When did we decide to settle our sometimes petty arguments with guns rather than conversation? My father loved to hunt. He used his shotgun. But since when do people need a weapon of war with their fast loading cartridges? “To kill as many people as possible at one time,” one school shooter has admitted. Yes, we need to be able to protect ourselves—but does it call for a weapon made for war? And if you are well-intentioned, why should you have a home-made gun without a serial number that cannot be traced back to you?

When did we start pillaging businesses and driving our cars into innocent crowds because we were dissatisfied with a judicial decision? When did we begin regarding every crazy theory we read about on social media as the truth despite lack of real evidence? When did we start believing every cable newscaster was delivering the truth because they were on the ‘left’ or ‘right’ network? When did we start leaving church attendance and Christian values behind?

May I end with this…perhaps we admire Zelenskyy because he is a model of what America wants and what a man should be: impressive without being imposing; confident without being cocky; intelligent without pretending to be infallible; sincere rather than playing to his chosen few; courageous and fearless because of a clear conscience. American young men raised on preposterous notions of what manhood entails, should be steered by parents toward his example.