World War III???

News broke today that Russia had invaded Ukraine in an attempt to claim the country as their own.  I wasn't completely shocked by this as stories about a possible invasion had been flooding the media over the past few weeks.  Even so, I really did not think that it would occur  and it has scared me a little bit.  Mostly I feel afraid of the unknown as I don't really know what this mean.  Will Russia continue to invade other countries in Europe?  Will Russian become allies with China?  If so, will China begin to invade other countries as well?  Will the US military become involved in helping the Ukrainian people?  Will this become another Afghanistan or worse yet, Vietnam?  Will gas prices rise even higher due to the fighting?  Would this have happened if a Republican was still in office?

I have spent quite a bit of time talking to the Heinisch children about the possibility of Putin leading an invasion on Ukraine this past week.  All had different ideas and concerns.  Cameron was the least worried.  They had talked about it in US History class and we had prayed about it at mass, but overall it didn't really affect his day to day life.  As a student in a pacifist school, he had learned long ago to pray for peace and not take sides during wartime.  Meg only said that it was all over Tik Tok that this would start World War III.  She didn't really feel that was a possibility and felt that it was no more concerning than worrying about global warming.  Cal was the most concerned about the possibility of the invasion leading to a war.  He definitely didn't want to be drafted and talked about what he would do if it escalated to that point.  Brett was the most positive about the situation and reassured Cal right away that the chance of him being drafted would be slim.  He felt that Ukraine would be able to hold their own and in the end only the small section of the country that already identified as Russian would be taken over.  He felt that it was more likely that Putin would be overthrown instead as many Russians were against the invasions.

I really don't know how to feel about the situation.  I am definitely worried, but most of all I just feel helpless.  Thus, I was thankful when Brett started posting daily prayers on FaceBook for the people of Ukraine.  Just reading through the prayer several times made me feel better.