There are two parts to a person’s existence, physical and spiritual. Yes, it is wonderful to sleep in a clean and comfortable bed, but there is more to life than sleeping. To simply go through the motions is not to live. Not to say that all days are good. Most of my days are a struggle – the work I do is not easy on the soul and sometimes you feel like you are stupid and wasting time. But when things do fall into place it can be a magical experience.

To live life is to struggle and grow, to learn and laugh, to ache and love, and to build. Not everyone follows their dreams or is driven by a sense of purpose. And that’s ok. I have often said that purpose is both a privilege and a curse. But one thing is for sure, most people fall in love, have heart ache, and fall in love again. Most people have passion. Most people feel, and that is what it means to be alive. To feel excitement, to experience wonder, to be inspired, to embrace motivation. To not welcome any of this is to be a zombie.

Talking to my friends in Ukraine I am inspired by their passion for life. It has captured the world’s imagination. Yes, things are not easy in Kyiv, where I consider to be home. All over Ukraine there are air raid sirens, and infrastructure challenges, and it is winter now, and being in a bomb shelter every other day is not easy. But life goes on. People are going to cinemas, eating burgers, dancing, shopping, riding bicycles, giving birth, getting married … in cities across the land.

Avatar is all the rave everywhere on the planet and movie lovers are breaking box office records. And Ukraine is no exception. There is a war, and infrastructure challenges due to the evil Russians bombing the electricity grid, and there are cinemas that have been destroyed, and it is winter, and curfew, and yet, people are lining up to see this blockbuster. Ukrainians may be under attack but their spirit is alive and kicking.

This makes me think back to the Dead Poets Society and that unforgettable scene :

We don’t read and write poetry because it’s cute. We read and write poetry because we are members of the human race. And the human race is filled with passion. And medicine, law, business, engineering, these are noble pursuits and necessary to sustain life. But poetry, beauty, romance, love, these are what we stay alive for. To quote from Whitman, “O me! O life!… of the questions of these recurring; of the endless trains of the faithless… of cities filled with the foolish; what good amid these, O me, O life?” Answer. That you are here – that life exists, and identity; that the powerful play goes on and you may contribute a verse. That the powerful play goes on and you may contribute a verse. What will your verse be?

What we stay alive for. I love this thought.

When any of us travel to a new place and go exploring we are very fortunate and privileged. I have a feeling that if you are reading this text then you are one of those lucky folk who have seen different parts of the world. The thing about visiting a city for the first time is the people – they make the difference. New York city is a good example. I know many folk who go to this exciting place and love it, and then I have met people that wonder around there and hate it. If you meet or know one good person and have someone look after you that always makes a big difference.

The people I am friendly with in Kyiv, my close circle, are mostly middle class people that are either entrepreneurs or professional folk or artists. They are not better than anyone else, but that is the group of friends we have, and enjoy, in that magical secret of a city. And I would argue that it is still pretty much a secret to most. As my friend Dave in California, who has been to visit us a couple of times in Kyiv, was saying to me this week on the phone, “Most Americans see Ukraine as something out of a Borat movie.”

The world constantly is seeing footage from this nightmare war in Ukraine but the one thing we don’t see to see on the news are my circle of friends from Kyiv, and like-minded folk from other big cites in Ukraine like Lviv, Odessa, Dnipro, Kharkiv, Vinnytsia, etc. Yes, Ukraine is not filled with affluent people and for most life is very hard. More than half the country was surviving on less than $500 a month, and that was before this evil war started. Now things are way harder. But still, Ukraine has a growing middle class, and it has talented film makers, tech unicorns, celebrated musicians, cool restaurateurs, funky retailers, and a whole lot more. We just don’t often see these kinds of people on the TV war coverage. So it makes sense that the world knows little of Ukraine other than what they see on the news from the front lines of the Russian invasion, which doesn’t looks good.

As I have written many times, I laugh a lot in Kyiv. People are very very funny. And they are seriously creative and soulful. This year we believe we will be able to return to our home in Kyiv, to The Nest, and we are excited to see all our friends and family again. Yes, it is always about the people, and Ukraine has wonderful people in abundance. When you do meet hard-working people that struggle to get by they are always so humble and so kind. So much soul. And the more privileged people, they are often a bit less humble, unfortunately, but generally very kind and warm too. To know Ukrainians is to embrace the magic in the world.

Happy new year !!!

Just over a month ago the Daily Maverick published a story I wrote about Kyiv. That text came straight from the heart. I received a lot of feedback from the article and it was quite touching. That text was also read by Operator Starsky in Ukraine and he shared the link with his YouTube community. Even more people read it after that and I now have a new online connection. Starsky is a hero and a very cool dude.

There were so many heart-warming comments posted on Starsky’s YouTube channel – I have cut and paste a handful of them here below:

Ukraine is going to be the place to be. You’ll see. Next year, full of tourists.

Kyiv will be even better once the war is over and the damage is rebuilt. I feel privileged to have visited it last year and I’ll visit it again in the future.

Beautiful article. It takes a long time to shake away the shackles of corruption but they are doing it right.

I lived in Kiev for 2 years, 2016-17, and loved it. For 6 months in that time, I was fortunate enough to live on Kreschatyk, my balcony being a spot to watch the busy street life of this beautiful city. My building was next to Maidan. Other side is the Kyiv Passage where they did Karaoke on Kreschatyk. Lived in some other apartments near Bessarabska Rynok on Darvina. Had my office on Bratska in Podil area. Would go out of my way walking there so I could enjoy my favorite street, Andrew’s Descent, a beautiful steep, winding collection of wonderful. The people were very friendly to me. English was commonplace. Food is amazing.

Kyiv was a city state when Moscow was a village.

Debora Patta from CBS interviewed Starksy at the start of the war. This is a must see.