Do you still think about the war?

If before I was afraid of sirens, now I wait for them. I wait for the siren to scream again and drown out all the other sounds of Kyiv. Too often, Kyiv sounds too normal. Cars sound like normal cars. People sound like normal people. Birds sound like normal birds. Everyone and everything sounds too normal — a direct byproduct of us pretending to live a normal life. Why are we so unsympathetic towards ourselves? It’s hard to live in a warring country. The only thing harder is when you have to pretend that everything is normal. We’re being assaulted, raped, murdered, and yet we’re acting like it’s not all that bad, like there’s still peace, joy and freedom to be found here. It’s a very confusing space of pretence, oppression and hypocrisy. I’m so tired of that. Still, Kyiv isn’t that bad. I was in Lviv two weeks ago. There, the central square — Rynok Square — is boasting with joy and festivities. If you rent an apartment in a building nearby, it’s hard to fall asleep — so much fun is going on around there. People scream. People cheer. People celebrate something every night. Sometimes they won’t stop even when the clock hands move past twelve and curfew starts. I don’t know what’s happening there, but — whatever they celebrate — it makes me feel invalid and broken. Am I missing something? <a href="https://medium.com/the-narrative-arc/war-isnt-normal-so-why-do-we-keep-pretending-it-is-da7c6738c8ee">Visit Now</a>