Imagine a world
Anxiety and fear of displacement
Friends,
I just read the first post in Postcards from Canada, a new series by
. In it, she writes:Imagine a world in which a bigger and stronger neighbour felt they had the right to take what was yours. Just because.
I don’t have to imagine. Not very hard. As the daughter, granddaughter, and great-granddaughter of refugees, I do not take lightly the fact that my brother, my cousins, and I are the first generation in our family, in more than a century, to live in (relative) peace and security.
My mother’s paternal grandmother, a refugee from Ukraine, who became a blacksmith in Saskatchewan after her first husband died.
All four of my mother’s grandparents fled to Canada in the wake of civil war in Russia and Ukraine. I know little about what they endured. Little about the fate of those left behind. They did not speak about it.
The farm in Bessarabia that belonged to my paternal grandparents.
I wrote about the experience of my paternal ancestors in an essay for The Globe and Mail. My aunt Erna had recently passed her photographs and stories down to my cousin Alan.
Because of her, I know how it feels to be a 12-year-old girl hiding in the bushes as the Red Army marches into town; to overhear the wife of one of the soldiers who has moved into your home refer to your cherry trees as her own; and to choose which of your belongings to pack into the one suitcase you are permitted to take when the SS soldiers escort you to the Romanian border.
I have always had a nagging sense that I, too, could easily be displaced.
Never has that possibility seemed more real.
My paternal grandfather’s temporary travel document.
A few days ago, I urged you to walk with me as I explored what it means to be a good neighbour in times of conflict. I shared a few examples of Israeli and Palestinian women working together to wage peace. On Sunday, March 9, I will highlight some “good neighbours” in another conflict, one that is gut-wrenchingly personal to me: Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Today, I leave you with a few reflections (and tips) on being a good neighbour.
“Community philanthropy, or what it means to be a good neighbour in times of war” (Mihaela Giurgiu, March 2022)
“During World War Two: The Good Neighbor Policy” (Rebecca Denison, August 2023)
I’d love to hear your thoughts. What does it mean to you to be a good neighbour at this moment in time?
I don't really know what it means to be a good neighbour right now. Feeling a little overwhelmed by everything at the moment (not helped by the fact that I'm sick in bed, I imagine).