I want to take a few minutes to honor, Alexei Navalny. Putin murdered him, Putin murdered his body.
But Putin is a small minded, weak, emotionally crippled little man who’s soul lives in a dark place.
He will never understand that killing a human being can never kill an idea, a vision, a commitment, a possibility.
Alexei has now passed into the eternal, into history, his spirit is free. There’ll be no more pain for Alexei, no more suffering, no more hunger.
What a man.
I loved looking at him. Because in all the videos and pictures I saw of him, I never saw fear, anger or resignation. I saw righteous indignation, passion, a fiery spirit. I saw a calm resolve.
I saw a man who loved his Mother Russia and her people. I saw a man who like Jesus, said I will take on the sins of my Country and be it’s voice.
I will be the one we’ve been waiting for.
I will stand up. I will not bend, I will not break in that resolve.
I saw this resolve in the face of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr
in the face of Gandhi
in the face of Mother Teresa
in the face of Nelson Mandela
in the face of Coretta Scott King
in the face of Malcolm X and on and on.....
There have always been and will always be heroes and she-roes in this world.
They’ve been with us from the beginning of time.
I would look at Alexei and wonder as many people did I’m sure, what does it take to be that courageous? Where does he find the courage, the willingness to die for his values and beliefs? To put everything on the line. To give his life for his people. We all watched him recover from the poisoning and immediately return to Russia.
I remember thinking, who is this man that he would do that, knowing Putin would certainly kill him at some point.
But how could I or any of us who live in America in 2024 and are “relatively” free, know what it is like to live in a world where your voice is muted. Living in fear of being arrested and disappeared if you dare to express your thoughts, feelings your outrage with your government. I think Navalny was the “canary in the coal mine” for those of us who still cherish Democracy.
How could we know what it’s like to be born into that kind of world.
Alexei answered that question many times. People wanted to know where he found the courage, wasn’t he afraid to die?
What I heard for myself in his response to these questions was, “I can do no other, I have no choice, I see the faces of my people, I must speak out for my people.
He also said and I paraphrase, because when I heard it I could barely hold onto it, “you can’t live a full life running away from fear.” This was his answer to the question, don’t you fear death at the hands of Putin by returning to Russia?
So my friends, Putin has killed his body. He is arresting Russians who simply want to lay flowers and mourn publicly together. Putin has arrested hundreds. What brave souls they are.
There are brave souls all over the world.
There have always been brave souls ever since the world began. We all have ancestors who were brave in their own way, in their own time.
Those of us who love and stand for freedom and Democracy become brave souls, when we do whatever we can to speak truth to power. When we are afraid and take action anyway.
We are brave souls when we say:
I am... here I stand, I can do no other, I am here.