March 7, 2022

I finally made it to the pool again. I go in spurts, trying to get into shape and then letting life take over, or should I say procrastination. Johnson Bentley Aquatic Centre is West Kelowna’s only swimming pool. It has remained open throughout covid except at the very beginning. I forget how much I enjoy swimming until I am stretching my body out and enjoying the rhythm and feeling of moving through the water.

It is an escape that I don’t enjoy enough.

Part of my routine is a rewarding soak in the hot tub afterward. I sank into the soothing waters and joined two gentlemen that were already there. Steve was there and he was chatting with a man I had not seen before. I estimated he was about sixty and Steve is probably in his mid-seventies. I sank into the water and relaxed but I couldn’t help listening in to their conversation.

“Ukraine is a nightmare right now,” said the man to my left. 

“The world is being held hostage by Putin, it gives me nightmares.” Steve looked over at me, ” how are you? I haven’t seen you in a while.”

“Much better than those poor people in Ukraine. I thought you were from Hungary?” I answered Steve.

“I am brothers with Ukraine, they are our friends and neighbours.” Steve still had his Hungarian accent. “When I escaped Hungary in 1956 we were all subjects of the Soviets. It is not the Russian people who are the bad guys, it is the communists.”

“Isn’t Putin more of a dictator, even a capitalist? Regardless he is evil.” I shook my head. “I don’t know what can be done, the only thing Putin understands is force. He won’t stop until the big dogs come out.” 

“Do you think we should have a world war?” The man between us looked at me? “He won’t be stopped and sending arms to Ukraine is causing more death. If the US gets involved it will be global war and no one will survive that.”

“I don’t want a world war but Putin is like Hitler was. You can’t appease a bully, sanctions won’t stop him. There is no easy answer but what else can be done?” I sighed, I haven’t felt this scared of global war since the ’80s. Back then Reagan stood up to Gorbachev and the Soviets blinked. But this is a different world and a different Russia with very different leaders. History has proven Reagan was right – and I hated Ronald Reagan at the time. Thankfully Russia had a man like Gorbachev.

“NATO was going to put nuclear arms into Ukraine and the Russians couldn’t allow that. Putin felt threatened. So he did something about it.” The man next to me said.

“Are you defending Putin? Are you defending his invasion? There is no justification for war.” I felt a churning in my stomach.

“I am not defending Putin. I am telling you why he is doing what he is doing. Where was the global indignation when the US invaded Iraq? What about all the other times the Americans bombed other countries? How many innocent civilians died at the hands of the US military-industrial complex?” 

“I agree the Americans were wrong to invade Iraq, that was all about oil. But two wrongs don’t make a right.” I was always against the Iraqi war.

“The reason the world is against Russia is that the people of Ukraine are white, and the people of the middle east are not. It is all about race,” the man looked over at Steve for support.

“There is some truth to that, but Putin is destroying a European country and that is a big part of it as well. He wants to rebuild the old Soviet Union.” Steve shook his head and st back into the bubbling waters.

“You make I valid point,” I conceded. “That still doesn’t justify anything. Russia is indeed trying to rebuild the old Soviet Union. Where will they stop? It makes my heart ache to watch the poor civilians in Ukraine. There is no reason for war in the twenty-first century.” 

“I think we can agree this is a senseless waste. It will have far-reaching consequences. But the west needs to back off, they are driving Russia to China, and if they unite it will be very scary. They will be the most powerful alliance ever.” The sixty-year-old man next to me answered.

“Russia and China already work together, but China doesn’t want to go to war, they want to own the world economically. They have already won their war.” I looked over at the two gentlemen soaking in the hot tub. “Regardless we can’t let the Russians invade their neighbours without consequences.”

Steve spoke up, “scary days. I haven’t seen anything like this since ’56.”

“When I went to Hungary in 1997 I was monitored and told where I could go and what I could do. Now they have the freedom to do what they want, if Russia wins in Ukraine it could be Hungary next. We need another Russian revolution, the people of Russia are good, I hope they can stop this. It’s our only hope…” Steve shook his head and sighed.

“I’m just grateful to be sitting in a hot tub in Canada and not somewhere in Ukraine,” I said.

“Agreed.” Both men nodded their heads.

“We’re closing” A voice interrupted our conversation. It was the young lifeguard. “Time to get out gentlemen you will have to continue to solve the world’s problems another time.”

“Have a good night guys. All I know is this needs to end soon.” I said to the two gentlemen in the hot tub and headed out of the water toward the change room.

Indeed we are very lucky to be able to sit in a hot tub in a beautiful place like West Kelowna and debate the war in Europe. As helpless as I feel about the disaster unfolding at least I am safe and secure a world away.