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Ukraine: Taking the War Personally vs. Personalizing the War
Communication Strategy in 2024 for the War
Taking the war personally versus personalizing the war are distinct approaches. Many Ukrainians inside and outside the country deal with the war as a personal attack. Possibly, foreigners may also process it the same way. This a natural reaction but also one that no human being in their right mind can maintain over a long period of time. All of us in Ukraine are bound to take certain things personally. Some might react on a personal level to the death of children, pets, the elderly, an individual soldier; the destruction of cultural objects, residential buildings, enterprises; and a whole myriad of horrifying results caused by war. However, this lays much weight on our psyches and spirits. War makes us develop a thick skin or drives one to despair; depression; alcoholism; drug addiction; risky behavior and at the worst, suicide. Each of us deals with it on both a personal and collective level. Some of us simply filter out that which we cannot or do not want to process while being careful to keep our focus on empathy and victory. This how many of us survive and keep on keeping on in the rear. Today, for instance, as I walked down the street to St. Volodymyr’s Cathedral through a severe biting cold, I remembered our soldiers in the trenches without heat and thought about the civilians who also don’t…
