Now America can inspire the world again

The January 6 storming of the US Capitol shocked millions of people outside America to the core. When watching the sickening pictures of the “insurrection,” I was thinking back to August 2018. America was bidding its final farewell to Sen. John McCain. Political leaders, Republicans and Democrats — they came together as Americans to send a message of unity around his casket in the Capitol Rotunda. To me, that sad moment was also a moral highpoint. One of many in this sacred place called the US Capitol. What a striking contrast to what the world saw on January 6, 2021. The low point.

I’m sure America will survive the hate that afflicts some Americans — but, like many people around the world, I’m hurting. I don’t have the right to judge, but I have a right to hurt. It pains me to see America like this. “I loved it for its decency; for its faith in the wisdom, justice and goodness of its people. I loved it because it was not just a place, but an idea, a cause worth fighting for”– those were McCain’s words.

America is a home for millions, but a “shining city on a hill” for billions — for people like me, who aren’t Americans but believe in freedom, truth, respect. So, please, don’t take it as intrusion, if many people around the world take this turmoil to the heart as if it was theirs.

What also hurts me is the parallels drawn between Ukraine’s two revolutions and the events of January 6. For starters, Ukraine’s “Orange revolution” of 2004 was 100% peaceful. Back then, Ukraine’s government (incited by Russia) did everything to provoke violence. It brought to Kyiv thousands of Eastern Ukrainians, mostly coal miners, in the hope that they would clash with protesters. It didn’t work. No one wanted to clash. Instead, the Maidan protesters listened to messages of peace, shared food, clothes and hot tea, and placed orange flowers onto soldiers’ riot shields. What was supposed to be a breaking point became a moment of unity. Short-lived, but unforgettable.

In 2013-2014, the government (again, with Russia’s backing) made sure Ukraine’s second revolution, the Euromaidan wouldn’t be so peaceful. It all started with the riot police beating hundreds to suppress the protest. The morning after, in the place of hundreds there were thousands. Maidan (Kyiv’s main square) was packed — the pictures went around the globe. Not many in the world knew that the space under Maidan is packed with boutiques and fashion stores. I was in Kyiv at the time, so I saw for myself what was reported in the Kyiv Post: not a single one was looted during the months of the revolution. And even after dozens were brutally killed in the third month, the revolutionaries didn’t turn into a vengeful mob. The vengeful mob came later — with the Russian occupation.

What I’m trying to say is this: you can tell the difference about whether people are just fooled and blind in their rage or whether they’re fighting for freedom. Ukraine’s two revolutions were not “insurrections.” They will be proud moments to look back on. What happened in Washington, DC, on January 6, 2021, will live in infamy.

Many years ago, I fell in love with the America that McCain referred to. For me personally, it was New Hampshire countryside — the place where I spent three weeks as an exchange student when the Soviet Union was still alive. It was March 1991. It snowed in Moscow when we left — and it was almost cherry blossom time in Washington, where everything felt unreal, as if I were inside a TV set. Then we came to New Hampshire — and it was more like being inside a Mark Twain novel. There I met the warmest, nicest, funniest, most compassionate people I had ever seen.

They weren’t “America first”. They cared about others. They made my world bigger and lighter. I decided to become a diplomat to meet more people like that. That’s what America does: changes lives. It certainly changed mine. It was McCain’s America. I hope President Joe Biden can bring it back. For me, an outsider, it’s the only conceivable way for the country to be great again.

In the four years that have passed, America wasn’t great. Neither was the world. The transatlantic relationship was strained. Europe didn’t understand America and America didn’t care about Europe. Unfreedom was on the march, led by Vladimir Putin. Russia attacked its neighbors and damaged the souls of those it didn’t dare attack. Putin managed to convince millions that America isn’t better than any other country — and may even be worse. At moments, it appeared that he convinced even President Donald Trump of that.

For a short moment in history, the shining city on the hill disappeared under a dark cloud, but I know it’s still there. Those who believe in freedom hope the cloud will go away under Biden. Those who hate freedom hope there is nothing but shambles left underneath.

Americans need to prove these latter ones wrong. I would start with a simple answer: “Yes, we are better.” It’s time to remind people what America is: “Not a place, but a cause worth fighting for.”