Ukraine conflict felt across the world, including at GSU

The military conflict between Russia and Ukraine started on Feb. 24, 2022.  Many people have lost their lives in the conflict, and more lost their homes in Ukraine.

Sympathy for other people in Ukraine manifested worldwide, including the Grambling State University campus.

Jeremy Mozee, a GSU sophomore, has the people of Ukraine on his mind.

“My heart goes out to the citizens of Ukraine,” Mozee said. “My spirit aches at the thought of what is being done to them.”

Mozee does have concerns that not everyone realizes the significance of the situation and effect it has worldwide. 

“Unfortunately, everyone in this generation  is psychologically desensitized to situations of this magnitude,” Mozee said.

On March 8, Matthew Acosta wrote a column, “The Russian Invasion of Ukraine Reveals Desensitization in our Nation,” in The Poly Post, the Cal Poly Student newspaper.

“The desensitization of our generation is rooted in the violence that we have witnessed from a distance since childhood,” Acosta said in that column. “Watching many people make memes and jokes is just evidence of how desensitized we are to these tragedies.” 

Acosta also quoted two psychologists, Jaime Sebastian F. Galan Jimenez and Omar Sanchez-Armass Cappello, from the University of San Luis Potosi, Mexico. 

“Desensitization to violence seems to produce the belief that violence is trivial and inevitable, even capable of generating positive emotions,” Acosta quoted that duo as saying.

Acosta concluded his column by writing, “Apathy is a symptom of desensitization.”

Mozee’s column said that he also feels everyone should be physically fit to prepare for whatever may come. 

“However, I do hope that it will not come to that, and I wish there was a way for all of us to come together and think of ways to give our support to those in need,” he continued.

Jeff Dean and Jonathan Franklin explained several ways that people could assist those affected by the conflict in an NPR.com article titled “Want to Support the People in Ukraine?”  

“MSF (Medecins Sans Frontieres/Doctors Without Borders) runs a range of activities in Ukraine working with local volunteers, organizations, health care professionals and authorities to help people travel to health care facilities and access prescribed medications,” Dean and Franklin said in that article. 

“Voices of Children’s efforts of support for kids include art therapy, video storytelling, providing mobile psychologists and even individual help for families. Sunflower of Peace is a nonprofit organization that raises money to prepare first aid medical tactical backpacks for paramedics and doctors on the front lines.”

Dean and Franklin also noted that the International Committee of the Red Cross is a “Switzerland-based organization that aims to help people affected by the conflict and support the work of the Ukrainian Red Cross.”

The Dean and Franklin article added that Save the Children, based in London, helps to deliver lifesaving aid to vulnerable children in Ukraine and around the world and that other organizations, such as the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR); CARE and International Medical Corps are assisting people in need during the conflict.”