I stayed at an Airbnb last night that had two rooms that were private; I was in one room and an individual was in the other he ended up being from Russia and fled from Russia a month or two ago when there was a military call for men. His name is Arsery and he has a family in Russia still - he has two daughters (4 and 6 years old) and a wife. He is trying to find work here in Italy to help support them.
He shared with me that at the beginning of the war the people of Russia were told that the Ukrainian's leaders were Nazis and on drugs and the people of Ukraine wanted to be freed and needed Russia’s help. Many people believed it and were in support of the war until the war continued longer than expected and the people started to find out that the original message was not the truth. He talked about how the propaganda / "news" is always changing, there’s always a new story, and nobody knows what is true and what is not true. He’s not sure when he can go back home because he would live in fear due to a potential military call but he’s hoping that he can find a job and place to live in Italy so his family can come join him.
It was absolutely heartbreaking talking to him hearing his reality and what probably many Russian people (and many other people around the world) are going through or have experienced. His attitude and main phrase he would share was: "well this is life and I have to just figure it out." It was a conversation that brought in the human element of people fleeing countries and trying to "find work" or "survive" in a country that is not home to them which can be seen as "taking jobs away from the people that live there". Despite having truth to it, it challenged me to think about the situation from a perspective of "what if that was my family?" or "what is that was me?" rather than a citizen / tax payer perspective. I don't have the answers to resolving anything but it was the first time my heart strings have been tugged on so deeply in regard to the war currently happening.
It was also a confusing conversation because when he asked about me, I felt very privileged to be out traveling for fun with my husband. I shared a little bit but I wasn’t sure how much to share since my life he said "sounded like a dream". I did realize how excited he got to hear about the trip so I shared a few more details with him. I asked to see photos of his family and he showed me his two very adorable girls who love real animals, stuffed animals, and playing outside. The photos were so beautiful and it was really sweet to see him smile and be so excited to share about his family.