‘We’re dying here’

All he needed was 16 minutes to bring down the House – and the Senate, for that matter. In his Wednesday morning address to the U.S. Congress, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky gave the performance of his life.

But for this former comedian, there was nothing funny about his familiar plea used by stand-up comics the world over: We’re dying here.

Dressed in his trademark military-issue army green T-shirt and seated next to a Ukrainian flag, Zelensky spoke through an interpreter. He methodically explained how Russia was attacking his country’s right to live free. His people are dying, he said, and he needs help to stop it. Now.

Unshaven yet unquestionably a wartime leader, Zelensky spoke from Kyiv, the Ukrainian city that was supposed to fall in the first days of this unprovoked and brutal war. “Putin’s War.”

On a large video screen, Zelensky seized the moment and called on the United States to act like the superpower that it is, was. And should be.

Then, that video. Powerful. Moving. Heart wrenching. Necessary.

A few minutes in, Zelensky stopped his remarks to show lawmakers a video clip. The graphic footage played over heart-tugging classical strings, with images of his war-torn country compared to what it looked like in happier times just one month ago.

It was horrifying. Bombs exploding in cities, killing innocent civilians and young children, blood, desperate cries and rampant destruction of what was once their beloved Ukraine.

The words “This is murder” appeared on the screen. And “Close the sky over Ukraine,” their constant plea to end the barrage of missiles.

Rebecca and I both stopped what we were doing, which wasn’t much. Checking emails, surfing the Web, playing Solitaire as we sipped our second cups of coffee. Tears welled up in our eyes.

He reminded us of John F. Kennedy, who in his day as the 35^th U.S. president, had mastered a new medium called television. At 43, he was the youngest elected president.

More than 60 years later, Zelensky, 44, was the master of cellphone cameras and Zoom.

Three weeks into Russia’s invasion of his country, Zelensky invoked Winston Churchill, Shakespeare’s Hamlet and Canadian cultural landmarks as he made deeply emotional appeals to Western leaders and lawmakers.

Yesterday, on March 16, 2022, it was America’s turn as a nation.

He knew exactly what hot buttons of history to push to get the lawmakers’ attention: our founding fathers’ faces on Mount Rushmore, the Dec. 7, 1941, attack on Pearl Harbor, the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, and the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s “I Have a Dream” speech on racial injustice.

His point? We are the same. Right now. At this moment. Exactly the same.

“Now I am almost 45 years old. Today, my age stopped when the hearts of more than 100 children stopped beating. I see no sense in life if it cannot stop the deaths.”

Ukrainian President Zelensky

“Every night for three weeks now … Russia has turned the Ukrainian sky into a source of death for thousands of people,” he said. “… I have a need. I need to protect our sky. I need your help,” referring to his big ask for NATO to impose a no-fly zone.

After showing the video, Zelensky concluded his speech in English.

“We are fighting for the values of Europe and the world, sacrificing our lives in the name of the future,” he said, adding:

“Now I am almost 45 years old. Today, my age stopped when the hearts of more than 100 children stopped beating. I see no sense in life if it cannot stop the deaths.”

Then, he addressed President Biden directly:

“And this is my main mission as the leader of my people, brave Ukrainians, and as the leader of my nation, I’m addressing President Biden. You are the leader of the nation, of your great nation. I wish you to be the leader of the world. Being the leader of the world means to be the leader of peace.”

Then he closed with his thanks and the heartfelt phrase of his country: Slava Ukrayini.

“Glory to Ukraine.”

Immediately and in unison, the U.S. Congress rose to their feet to give this fearless comedian a standing ovation. Bipartisanship at last. No joke.