Ukraine is on fire, all because one man has decided that the wishes of millions of other people don’t matter; that he and he alone has the right to decide what they can and cannot do.
Vladimir Putin, a malignant and murderous narcissist, has appointed himself a ruler by way of murder, terror and the kind of corruption that has made him one of the richest humans on the planet, with a personal worth estimated at $200 billion.
On a government salary? Not even Warren Buffet is that good at managing money.
Instead, he has been allowed to flourish unfettered for 22 years because of others’ fear and greed — mostly greed. Those who could have stopped him instead saw it as a chance to enrich themselves. They didn’t deem his mania worrisome enough, deciding that getting rich was worth placing the entire planet at risk.
For such people, humility is a concept so foreign as to be laughable. Humility is for the weak, for losers and the helpless who have neither the money or power to impose their will.
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Our acts of inhumanity are triggered by hatred
The history of humankind is pockmarked with atrocities, from Auschwitz to Rwanda to Tulsa. The motive never changes. Our acts of inhumanity are triggered by hatred, religion, greed and the perpetual fantasy of superiority.
For the perpetrators, religion and nationalism are simply weapons to be wielded, a cloak of respectability even as they stand on the bodies of those who dare to speak truth to power.
The notion of humility is anathema to such people because it requires an admission of imperfection, of fallibility, acknowledging there is something greater than oneself.
For the world’s Christians, Ash Wednesday calls us to our knees, the last place Putin would ever be found despite his public displays of morality and religiosity.
But ashes put us in our place. They’re an unavoidable reminder that we are finite creatures granted only so much time before we must exit the stage, proving that all money and power in the world is worthless if it can’t buy you more time.
We are mortals who fail and stumble
Ashes are are a public admission of an inward truth: We are mortals who fail and stumble and are in constant need of grace.
Ash Wednesday, and the 40 days of Lent leading to Easter is a path, a roadmap leading us to a new start.
It’s a reminder that nothing we’ve done is beyond the reach of forgiveness and grace.
People who have placed the world on the brink in pursuit of their own selfish ends have deluded themselves into thinking that they somehow will be the exception to the the rule. They think that if they impose themselves long enough, they’ll cheat death by gaining immortality in the memory of those left behind.
But when’s the last time you had a conversation about Genghis Khan, Pol Pot, or even Osama bin Laden?
Like weeds when they are cut down and burned, the smoke rises, never to be seen again.
Mortality, which is represented by ashes, is the great equalizer, the undisputed heavyweight champ. Putin is just the latest in a parade of fools whose attempt at playing God will surrender to time and death.
Proverbs 19:21 states that “Many are the plans in a man’s heart, but it is the Lord’s purpose that prevails.”
Putin may have the world’s attention at the moment, but he, too, will surrender to the inevitable.
Everyone does.
Charita M. Goshay is a Canton Repository staff writer and a member of the editorial board. Reach her at 330-580-8313 or charita.goshay@cantonrep.com. On Twitter: @cgoshayREP
This article originally appeared on The Repository: Ash Wednesday highlights our common humanity and need for forgiveness
