Aussiegirl has posted a very moving post talking about her family’s trials with totalitarianism in Russie and Germany, and her feelings with the Orange Revolution. It’s a really good read.

So when I heard and watched these events unfold in Ukraine, and I realized that Ukrainians had finally gotten up off their knees and reclaimed their rightful heritage as a free and democratic and cultural people, I wept with joy — because it felt like a liberation to me as well, that my own Ukrainian song which had been planted in me by my parents, and which I had cherished all my life in secret — could now also burst into life and take wing along with those doves and those balloons. A great part of my Ukrainian soul was also liberated and acknowledged by that solemn oath and those noble words spoken by President Yushchenko. I can now proudly say to anyone — “I am a Ukrainian American” — and know that they will know what I mean — and understand a bit of who I am — for Ukraine will now be known for more than just being a dim outpost of forgotten people, with a forgotten heritage, or the site of a terrible genocide, or of a nuclear disaster, or of a thuggish and criminal regime. Ukraine can take its place in the family of nations — and the dream of a resurrected Ukraine that my parents cherished and nurtured their entire lives in exile, will finally have been achieved by brave people, fighting bravely for goodness and decency once more.

I couldn’t be happier. To be an American — and to be a Ukrainian — these are riches beyond compare.