What Can We Do?

I'm currently rewatching Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood.

Very easily one of my favorite stories ever, FMAB doesn't shy away from pressing, real-world issues. Some are broad in scope, like citizens' relationships with their government; others are more intimate, like people's relationships with each other and themselves. Yet no matter how large or how small, FMAB makes one thing about all the issues it tackles clear: Everything is connected. That idea is so prevalent that it's even the basis of the story's magic system, alchemy.

I'll be spoiling some major events in season 2 after this point, so if you've yet to watch the show or read the manga (titled Fullmetal Alchemist), do yourself a favor.

Yesterday, I rewatched the episode in which Winry nearly shoots Scar after accidentally finding out that he killed her parents, who were doctors only trying to help him—a turning point in her character arc, to say the absolute least. It causes her to wonder what her place in the world is; she feels like all she does is wait around while Edward and Alphonse constantly put themselves in danger in their quest to get their bodies back. But Ed, while slowly and gently prying her fingers from the gun, says something: "You helped a woman give birth... and saved her and her baby. You gave me an arm and a leg so I could stand again. Your hands aren't meant for killing people. They're for helping them live."

It made me think... in this time of crisis, with Ukraine on the brink, what are my hands for?

I don't keep up with the news so avidly that I know whose cat got saved from a tree by which firefighter last week in Decorah, Iowa, but things this big? It's hard to look away. And while I'll refrain from specifying my opinions, I will say this: Like Winry, we all have to find our place, even if it's not on the front lines.

So, what are my hands for? What they've always been for, of course: writing.

This doesn't mean I'm suddenly going to start writing about politics or world issues; those aren't my specialties, and there are writers out there who can cover them far better than I ever could. It does, however, mean that I want to take my work more seriously than ever. Whether I'm writing a short story about two aliens meeting for the first time at a roadside diner on a world swathed in glacial ice or a review of an old Spider-Man comic, this is what I have to offer to the world. I'm a storyteller. And if I can put a smile on your face, make you think about something in a new way, or take your mind off the craziness of life for even a moment... that's enough.

There are plenty of places to donate to or help out Ukrainian citizens, but if you'd like to donate to UNICEF as I did (you can see my receipt below), click here. It might not be much, but whenever I start thinking that what I do isn't enough, I'm going to think of Winry instead. I hope you do too, Dear Reader.