Are Ukrainians truly fearless?

Courage isn’t the absence of fear: it’s acting in spite of it.

UKRAINE AS A WHOLE HAS BEEN A SYNONYM OF courage since the invasion, and Ukrainians, as a result, are often viewed as the epitome of fearlessness. But is this perception true?

There's a problem with this concept. It's easy to confuse courage with the absence of fear. Courage isn’t the absence of fear: it’s acting in spite of it.

We have no shortage of fear in our hearts and minds. Just a quick look at the map is enough to see the scale of our problem. We are invaded by the largest country in the world. A criminal one, sure, but still the largest in terms of area, with immense resources and nuclear weapons to intimidate us.

Anyone who wouldn't fear that is simply not in a conscious state. Every Ukrainian is filled with fear in their hearts. But they don’t let it stop them.

The truth is, fear itself is not the problem. Fear is neutral. What makes the difference is how we choose to deal with it—how we use this feeling, how we take advantage of it, and push ourselves forward.

Fear is a natural part of our humanity, and rather than rejecting it, we can use it as a tool for transformation. When we confront a stronger fear, such as the fear of living under occupation, deprived of our nation, our culture, and our language, it fuels an extreme motivation that practically forces us into action.

We understand that paralysis is not an option in our current circumstances. Taking a firm stand and practical action is mandatory if we still want to live in freedom, aligned with our ideals of justice and democracy.

The alternative of defending ourselves is occupation, which automatically means that we would be living without our ideals. And if a person without their ideals is a dead person, what could be said about an entire nation without its self awareness and fundamental principles?

Without our independence, Ukraine is a dead nation.

It’s been said so many times, but we don't mind repeating it indefinitely: we are fighting for our survival.

We are not merely fighting against an invader, we are fighting for life. In circumstances like these, we almost forget the fear we carry inside us. The overwhelming fear we live with.

We only look ahead and take the only road available to us—the road of fighting, of overcoming, of resilience, of justice.

You might call it courage, and it probably is. But at the same time, we don’t have the time or energy to focus on our fears. We just can't stop to define the adjectives we carry inside our souls.

We just know that the resistance will never stop until we finally have the Ukraine we’ve always dreamed of for our children.

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