The stone Ukrainians don't carry anymore

We will never roll the Russian stone again over a hill in Ukraine

HAVE YOU EVER HEARD ABOUT the Myth of Sisyphus?

When everything fails to understand the world at the time we are experiencing it, the classic concepts of literature and philosophy often offer some guidance. Sometimes it may feel like a threat as they are not designed to comfort our hearts, but slap our faces with the elementary notions of human nature. 

The Myth of Sisyphus explores the idea of absurdity, which arises when humans seek meaning and purpose in an universe that seems to be indifferent and chaotic to them. The famous essay written by Albert Camus takes its name from the ancient Greek mythological figure, Sisyphus, a smart king who, as a form of punishment from the gods, was condemned to roll a massive stone up a hill, only to watch it rolling back down each time he reached the top. He was eternally tasked with this futile and repetitive labor. 

Camus uses the image of Sisyphus and his eternal struggle as a metaphor for the human condition. The myth basically represents the human condition as it clashes with the insanity of some fragments of human existence, or in regards to what our existence possibly needs to deal with.

The struggle to align personal will with divine will, using one's powers and privileges to serve the greater good. The battle against the craziness of life, just like the myth of Sisyphus, becomes a metaphor for the continuous quest to do what is right.

It seems that we have similar challenges along our lives and many times we found ourselves rolling our own stones. In our lives individually and also as nations. What are our Sisyphus stones? Which ones we keep pushing uphill only to see downhill, without any contribution to our existences, and keep repeating that again and again as our life goes and we just wasted a valuable time that will never come back again?

The cyclical nature of human existence does not simply require hard work, does not only reward effort. To contemplate real and lasting achievements, we need to prompt a reflection on the choices we make in the face of life's challenges, accepting them, and start a journey towards the pursuit of meaning despite the inherent difficulties and absurdities of our world.

Only leaving our comfort zone will we be able to throw away the Sisyphus stone and follow our path forward, or replace the stone for a lighter one, or whatever measure that takes us from living a meaningless existence, or at least a meaningless part of our existence.

In this context, Ukrainians share Camus' belief that we must strive for absolute freedom, making existence an act of rebellion. Collectively, we strongly consider that we need to confront the absurdity of war and make a conscious choice to continue living with purpose and passion. Our choice for fighting for our country is completely combined with our passion for our land, our love for our families, our commitment to justice, and the purpose of elevating the Ukrainian spirit towards the world by offering our small share to a better global civilization. 

We Ukrainians have the absurdity of being invaded and everything else you know, but Camus could never say we are living according to the apparent meaningless of life. Submitting to Russia would be our own Sisyphus Myth and this is something we already accomplished, no matter the result of the war. We will never roll the Russian stone again over a hill located in the soil of Ukraine

We are rolling this stone for centuries, not anymore.

And being from a nation that finally managed to escape from the Sisyphus myth is something that boosts my hope for this recently started year of 2024.

Happy New Year again, my friends. I wish that you and your nation may also break your Sisyphus stones this year. Personally and collectively. You can count with our expertise in the subject.

Love you all.