Random thoughts time. Apologies if I'm going off on an odd tangent. I might be a bit ranty, please don't be offended or feel like I'm directing it at you.

So here's the thing with handling the news at the moment. Things are bad. Really bad. So bad that lots of people are feeling the news is all just too much to handle.

So much so that lots of people are deciding to stop reading the news and avoiding social media because it's so upsetting.

I know that maybe that's what some folk need to keep their anxiety down to a manageable level and get through the day.

But we just spent a day in a WWII museum, explaining to my kids about the bombing of Dresden and Nuremberg. About how in war, both sides commit terrible acts to survive or repell oppressors. About how many civilians are affected as well as the military. About how young people are asked to fight at short notice and others have to fill their normal roles. There's no point hiding that from them. Their great-grandparents lived through it. That's not ancient history, it was real life for people they know and it is real life today for people they don't know.

War is awful. It's scary and destructive and terrible. We should rail against it. We should react and do whatever small things we can to support the victims, counteract the aggressors and beseech our representatives to take whatever actions are required. (We can argue about what those might be).

But how can we do whatever small things we can if we're busy hiding from the facts, protecting ourselves from the awful reality happening thousands of miles away?

How much worse is the situation for the people throughout the Ukraine currently fearing for their lives, their freedom, their country?

What's set me off down this train of thought? A local business where I live, with no connection to the Ukraine, no personal reason, has cancelled their energy contract because it fed back to Gazprom. They can do very little, and this individual act will have a tiny impact. But what if all businesses switched their energy suppliers? What if we all stopped buying any Russian products or services? What if we all took tiny actions of support? What if we all welcomed refugees with open arms and help in their time of need? Couldn't we contribute to stopping the march of Putin the impaler?

But how can we do that if we're too busy worrying about the impact bad news is having on our lives and trying to avoid it so we can carry on in our safe little bubble?

So by all means, take care of yourselves but don't stick your head in the sand.

Instead, maybe see if you can do something practical to help? Here are some ideas:

  • Donate, financially or practically
  • Protest
    • Find out where protests are happening near you or watch out for when groups are organizing gatherings in bigger cities.
  • Boycot
    • This one's a bit harder because UK markets aren't exactly full of Russian products. There are a couple of vodka brands apparently.
    • Maybe take the opposite approach and seek out Ukrainian products that we can purchase.
  • Hack
    • Obviously very skillset dependent. If you're a hot developer with knowledge of infiltration coding approaches, maybe get involved with the Anonymous collective's efforts to disrupt Russian infrastructure?
  • Stay informed, react however you can. Share your anger and encourage others to do more than post a Ukrainian flag to their profile picture. Share news from the Ukraine, but fact check and don't be indiscriminate (we know how that can backfire).

I'll get off my silly self-righteous podium now. Normal kid-focused service will be resumed shortly.

Love from Smell xxx