We have friends who immigrated from Russia who frequently come to stay with us while in Hawaii. Our friendship goes way back to when Cindy first met Natasha who served as her interpreter and our eventual trip to Russia in 2013. They were with us here last year when Russia invaded Ukraine. They are part Ukrainian with friends on both sides of the conflict and their youngest son and wife have now left Russia to avoid the consequences of the war.
We were sitting around drinking tequila last evening and they were describing their more recent experiences as part of a Russian-speaking community in Denver. While "Americanized" they told of hostile social media posts targeting Russians rather than the Putin government. They find this frustrating as their presence in the U.S. obviously should be understood as an indication of their position on the situation in Russia, but the label is still applied. Our association with them and their circle of acquaintances has to be unique among our friends. Their life stories of being uprooted by multiple conflicts now (Chechen war before Russia) have long been a source of amazement at their resilience.
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