Among the realities of the war in Ukraine is the power of lies. Many Russian soldiers do not know why they are fighting. They were told they would be liberators or were in a military exercise. Their leader sent them off to war with a lie. A parallel I draw is the Jan. 6 insurrection when a mob tried to stop a legal, constitutional process: certification that Joe Biden had won the election, not Trump. That action was based on a lie, and I see the similarities in Trump’s lie and Putin’s lie as well as their goals and ambitions. They both seek to return to a country that no longer exists. They see democracy as something to be feared and controlled.

These purposeful, destructive lies, spread by autocrats through their media, are influencing peoples’ actions in extreme ways. In Ukraine, brave civilians, recognizing that their democracy and freedom are being threatened, are forced to fight a physical, violent war. In this country, our enemy is not storming our streets but is storming our minds to forget what our country stands for and what our constitution has guaranteed.

Pray we successfully combat lies with truth and defend the vote.

Teresa Norris

Mystic