Wait. The war is still going on?

I was thinking lately about how difficult it must be to be a Ukrainian citizen, much less a soldier. The war has lasted over eight months and not much has been accomplished beyond billions in damage and uncounted losses of life.

What happens when everyday life must include the threat of random and sudden death from the skies, from missiles or "suicide drones," or whatever? Do we just shrug it off, much like we shrug off the real but unlikely threat of death when we drive to the supermarket? Or do we feel a constant, low-level sense of dread, and an inability to imagine things ever getting much better? 

My own state of mind is stuck in a "what is wrong with people? and "what is wrong with the nation where I live?" It's not a fear of death from above and not even close. But my guess is that many share my sense of discomfort and unease.

The 2020 election in America felt a bit like the opening month of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, with less lethal stakes. People got fired up. Voters shook themselves from their depression and fear and confusion and provided a clear victory for Biden (mostly a rejection of a demagogue) and for just enough legislators to give tenuous power to Democrats for a couple years. Plenty of others chose the spokesman for Angry White People, which means there are lots of angry white people, and that is a fact that many progressives can't seem to accept.

The Russians underestimated the Ukrainians. Democrats may underestimate Republican rage and hopelessness. 

Ukrainians summoned incredible strength and a sense of community and national pride that helped them withstand the initial Russian attacks and even counterattack. I assume many Ukrainians were running on adrenaline and fear and pain and an overall feeling of "this is life or death." But eventually the adrenaline is just not enough. At some point, the body must return to "normal."

Our elections may not have produced such an existential choice (life or death), or maybe I am underestimating the depth of feeling for many voters. Even with a record number of Americans voting (nearly 155 million), there were nearly 240 million Americans who COULD have voted in the 2020 election. 

That's quite a missing share of potential voters if we are truly in a life or death battle. Those "missing" 85 million voters, more than either the share who voted for Biden or for Trump, are the voters that mystify me the most. Maybe they would divide in the same percentages as those who actually bothered. We will never know.

I hope Ukrainians' attention spans are not as fleeting as those of Americans, but worry that our culture is increasingly impatient. How long can a modern war go on? How long can a nation continue to bury its dead and tend its wounded without a clear resolution of the war in sight? 

How long can a nation tolerate irrational hate toward its own citizens? How long can people demonize others without even knowing them? 

How much time are we to allot for change to occur?