Yale: Ukraine is a Land of Second Chances. October 2015, New Haven

If you still believe in international law and justice — care for Ukraine and Eastern Europe.

If you believe that more prosperous countries and not more failed states make our planet more secure — care for Ukraine and Eastern Europe.

If you believe that the battle for modern civilization runs through the frontlines of global fights for civil rights equality — care for Ukraine and Eastern Europe.

But if you don’t care or don’t believe in all of this, let the Ukrainian story to be your nice reminder about the transformative power of redemption and second chances.

Because no matter how hard it is to look at your kid’s eyes when you don’t have much to offer for dinner, or how hard you’ve been beaten by your bullies at school or on the street by your own police you are paying for, how much humiliation you went through in a cabinet of a greedy bureaucrat or how heartbroken you were when forced to abandon your home forever fleeing a deadly shelling, people in Ukraine refuse to give up, and I refuse to give up. You get back up and you fight back.

Because by fighting back you are not only giving a second chance to your country, by fighting back you give a second chance to yourself.