I went a little hard in the paint with my son this morning.

When he failed to listen on the third time I asked him to “Please get in the car so we aren’t late for school”, I told him kids in Ukraine were waking up to war this morning and he better dang well appreciate everything he has in his little easy-peasy, worry-free life.

He’s 4.

Like I said, perhaps it was a bit harsh.

But being a father to two young boys, it was all I could think about.

As a young man, war and conflict just seemed like part of our world. An unavoidable, if unfortunate biproduct of living in a world filled with intelligent and competitive people and interests.

Now?

Looking at my sons it seems an unfathomable tragedy

The drums of war sound again.

Autocrats half a world away threaten free people with chains and subjugation. Surrounding their prey, they “cry havoc and let slip the dogs of war”, plunging our world into chaos and bloodshed. And for what?

So some dictator can lay claim to be the momentary master of a fraction of a dot?

How do you explain this to your kids?

How do you unpack the insatiable greed of humanity at times?

How do you prepare them to face the monsters, should it one day come to that?

Today was a day with far more questions than answers.