What I Found Disturbing In Zelensky's Address

Ukrainian President Zelensky addressing the US Congress.

Much as I grieve the unimaginable suffering of the Ukrainian people and admire their courage in the face of a cruel invasion, I couldn't help but have mixed feelings about President Volodymyr Zelensky's address to Congress last night.

I'm certainly no expert in matters of national policies but speak only as a concerned world citizen and as an imperfect follower of the Prince of Peace.

Here are some parts of the address last night I found disturbing:

1. We have to utterly defeat the Kremlin on the battlefield.

Where will an ongoing, all out effort  to return evil for evil, an "eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth" take us, short of everyone being finally being rendered blind and toothless? Can't we even consider other ways of ending conflicts than having our enemies completely destroyed and defeated? 

There was no mention of any efforts at calling for at least a temporary truce while bringing opposing parties to the peace table to negotiate an enduring peace. True, this is not a conflict between equals, but what will adding ever more destructive missiles and other weapons of massive destruction accomplish other than causing ever more destruction and suffering? Assuming a nuclear superpower like Russia can simply be backed into a corner with no option but abject surrender seems less likely than having the war expand into a worldwide holocaust.

2. Our fight for independence is like yours in 1776.

It could be argued, of course, that Ukraine's war is far more justified than the colonists' revolt against the English crown. King George certainly wasn't the tyrant Putin has proven to be, and was not illegally invading the colonies. By Zelensky's logic, it would be native Americans who should have fought off European invaders until they were forced to surrender and withdraw. Would that have been the only just outcome?

3. Like Churchill we are asking for your help in saving the world from tyranny.

It was numerous media commentators, not Zelensky himself, who made the point that he was the first head of state since Winston Churchill to address the US Congress while their nation was at war. I found this comparison chilling, as the Second World War II turned into the most brutal, barbaric and catastrophic worldwide disaster ever. Do we really believe the use of megatons of bombs and finally nuclear weapons was the only way the world could be saved? The lives of 50-80 million people were lost in this awful war.

Citizens of one of the most Christianized nations in the world, Germany, could and should have prevented Hitler from coming to power by refusing to believe his lies and by not supporting any of his evil schemes. That kind of vigilant resistance to evil and replacing evil with good is the only lasting way to a peaceful and just world, not by using evil means in an attempt to achieve good ends.

Could we all join in a standing ovation to that kind of proposal?