A Hilltop View of the Rolling Waters of the Dnipro

This Thanksgiving morning I spent about an hour seated in an old Victorian style gazebo which sits on the promontory of Volodymyrska Hill Park. From here there is a sweeping view of the Dnipro River, far below, of the monument to Prince Volodymyr, the "Baptizer," of the beautiful tree-lined avenues of the park, and even of the sunlight glinting off of the spires in St. Michael's of the Golden Domes. I sat for a long time in solitude, gazing at the river and writing.

The view of the Dnipro from this point is incomparable. With the Nile, the Mississippi, the Amazon, the Yangtse, the Ganges, the Rhine and the Danube, this is one of the great rivers of the world. It has been the broad avenue of cultural change. The ancient Rus settled on these banks, ultimately carrying their great culture north into present-day Russia. There were great Viking trading outposts here and elsewhere along this river in the tenth and eleventh centuries. In more recent times, this river has been the chief commercial road between the Mediterranean and Black Sea ports and the great interior of the Soviet Union and of Russia. It has witnessed both great prosperity and great tyranny. And the Dnipro flows ever on, oblivious or indifferent to the rise and fall of Tsars and tyrants.

A great man once wrote, "How long can rolling waters remain impure?" As long as the rains and snows of heaven continue to fall upon the land of any people, how long can their rivers run polluted and choked with mud and debris. How long can oppression and hatred and tyranny bind a people when the waters of liberty, goodness and Wisdom are flowing freely. Even in the face of the darkest oppression, the rolling waters will ultimately run as clear as the mountain stream. The waters seem now to be running clear for the Ukrainian people. May the rolling waters sweep away all that clouds and pollutes this great people. May it ever be so.

These, and other thoughts crowded around me as I sat overlooking the beautiful Dnipro. This may be my most memorable Thanksgiving Day, spent in a little gazebo overlooking this special and sacred spot of Kyiv.