Wow, 'people' telling Ukrainians stop being a victim, when, you know, we are actively being invaded, bombed, harassed. Great. Nothing really changes.
What excuse they use about why this is happening? Compassion fatigue? Because, you know, they can allow it, it's not them getting air raids every night, it's not them having to flee their homes with a backpack of possession, it's not them having to integrate in a new environment. They can allow themselves to get fatigued of being human. Not Ukrainians though.
As a refugee, I will be forever thankful for the way me and my mom were treated when we fled to the other country. How helpful, empathetic, and caring people were around us. How we were hugged by a complete stranger in a store, when we asked for help in finding baking soda, and that grandma teared up when we answered on her question where we came from.
But then it started to change, not a half year in a full scale invasion. A man at the hairdresser's, who started aggressively commenting about Ukrainians in his country. An ER doctor who told my 80 y.o. grandpa he had to learn the language by now. Harassment at work, because I'm Ukrainian, and I supposedly "took the work place" of a job that had an opening for half a year, pays shitty wage and has no prospect. Hearing "go home" time and time again, even though I don't have a home anymore, but not like I can explain it to a random bully on the street, who heard me speaking with my mom. The vet we took our kitty to, who asked when we were planning to go home, because the war will be over soon, with a nasty smirk. A constant berating on the internet, of people bemoaning us having too many benefits, even though we had barely anything at all - no living accommodation, no food help, just medical care for my mom who is disabled, and me one time, when I literally went blind from stress.
I could go to Ukraine, but where would I live? All of the few relatives I have there - grandma and cousins - all live in a rented places. And subject my mom to a life under constant air raids, when she almost had a heart attack when we lived in Orikhiv under shelling? No, thank you. I would rather be a nobody in a foreign country that always dismisses me, makes my existence harder day by day, but have a living, somewhat healthy mother.
And I know, I'm safe in another country, not in a constant peril of being killed by a shahed or a ballistic missile, and it's much worse for those who stayed in Ukraine, surviving the horrors of war every day, having to continue to exist even when their cities are in smoke after the recent attack. I know some Ukrainians will say "well, you could've just stayed", and maybe they would've been right. Perhaps it would've been better to be buried under the ruins of my home, than being torn from it. I would've gladly stayed, if it wasn't for the evacuation order or my mom's health, trust me.
Playing victim card? Damn. I would gladly exchange my place with those fuckers, and see how they fare, with constant tolerance of the ruzzians who took everything from them.
snowghoul
blakekathryn
titsay
annaxmalina
germansingergirl
vaporwave
theartofmadeline
andulkaphoto
