This is a hard piece to write, but we as a committee felt that it needed to be written. We wanted to post a statement of support for all the victims of the war between Russia and Ukraine. But how do you write about a war that hits so close to home? How do we cope with something like that?
I am not able to imagine the pain and fear with which all the victims of this war have to live since it started. It must be extremely awful, especially for the people who actually live in Russia and Ukraine, in the midst of the war area. But let’s not forget about all the people who have family members or friends in those countries. Our hearts should also go out to them, since it must be extremely hard and painful as well to see their close ones suffer from such a far distance. Unfortunately, there’s not a lot we can do for those poor victims from this distance. But what we can do to help is support organisations that help war victims. And if we know anyone that suffers from the war, the least we can do is try to support them with our love.
We couldn’t possibly support everyone with one single column, so let’s talk about the thing that supports all of us: music. The thing that inspired me most to write this, was a video I saw on instagram. I started watching it, because I saw two people making music together, which always catches my interest. But then I started reading the subtitles that accompanied the instrumental classical music and discovered that one musician was from Ukraine and the other from Russia. They had been making music together for years and had no intention to stop because of the war. Instead, they decided to keep doing what they always had done, and by that hopefully inspire people to support each other with music. To show people that we can also love instead of hate. Their message to everyone who watches the video is to look beyond your own horizon and love the people that matter to you regardless of your differences. I unfortunately cannot find the video anymore, so you’ll just have to take my word for it.
As this specific video gave me a lot of comfort, I think lots of people get comfort out of music in awful times like these. So let us keep spreading our love for music, and our love for each other through music, cause we do deserve to feel loved. Finally, I want to share with you a quote of a song that I was just listening to: “I’d love it if we made it.” A beautiful lyric written by the 1975. So let me end on that note: I’d really do love it if we made it and are able to keep sharing our love for music together.
