Those of us of a certain age remember well the Cuban missile crisis.  I was a student at Toaz Jr. High on Long Island, a fortress of a school built in 1939 from WPA funding.

I remember vividly the assembly in the auditorium when we were told the Russians were putting nuclear missiles in Cuba that could reach major East Coast cities in minutes.  Being a mere 30 miles from New York, a possible target, we were terrified at the prospect of a nuclear holocaust capable of wiping us out.

We had air raid drills where we were told to shelter under our desks, as if that would provide any protection (put your head between your legs...you know the rest).  We were escorted into the bowels of the building, where there was a concrete tunnel we could use for an air raid shelter, complete with barrels of survival supplies with the nuclear symbol stenciled on them.  Some of our neighbors even built their own fallout shelters in their basements.

This was a lot for a 13-year-old's mind to process.  What is going on now with Ukraine is a lot for a 73-year-old's mind to process.

Yes, Putin was out of line invading Ukraine.  But no, this is not the sword for us to fall on.  Zelensky is a petty tyrant, and Putin is a world-class tyrant but this is not our war, and the actions by Congress to throw gasoline on this dumpster fire threaten to make the Cuban missile crisis pale in comparison.

I once had respect for Tom Cotton, but he has fallen off his pedestal — first with his vote for the $1.7-trillion omnibus spending bill, and now with his endless war rhetoric in support of Ukraine.  And Senator Wicker?  He should be socially castrated for his comments about using nukes as first-strike weapons.  Is he out of his cotton-pickin' mind?

Now the talk is of retaking Crimea.  Note to Congress: Crimea and a warm-water Black Sea port have been a strategic priority of Russia since Peter the Great established the first Russian navy.  What are the odds Putin's going to give it up without a fight — including throwing a few nukes around?

Russia in the 1960s was a nuclear power and a definite threat to us, but Russia today has thousands of nukes and is capable of total world destruction at the push of a button.  Why are we poking this bear?

In the classic movie A Man for All Seasons, Thomas More says to  Richard Rich, who has perjured himself to convict More of treason, "Why, Richard, it profits a man nothing to give his soul for the whole world. ... But for Wales?

But for Ukraine?

Image via Public Domain Pictures.