In December, 1990, a young U.S. diplomat was serving at the U.S. consulate in what was then Leningrad, in the former Soviet Union. He took a trip into the neighboring country of Latvia. The diplomat, George Krol, wanted to visit the Latvian officials who had recently declared independence from the Soviet Union.

Following the astonishing revolts that year against Soviet rule in various Soviet republics, Latvia was among several former republics declaring their independence.

However, even as Krol was visiting, the celebration was cut short. News arrived that a coup of former Soviet communists against Russian President Boris Yeltsin was intent on restoring the Soviet Union. Word spread that Russian tanks were even on their way to Latvia to restore Soviet rule.

As Latvian leaders thanked Krol for being with them at this dangerous moment, Krol realized what it meant to represent America: “To them, I was not George Krol, a young American diplomat from New Jersey, I was America; and America was standing with them in their darkest hour. . . . I thought: I represent the United States of America; I can’t believe they pay me to do this.”

Today, as Ukraine fights back against Russian power in a struggle that was supposed to have ended over thirty years ago, we might revisit what that America is called to be.

May God help us overcome the hatreds that work against what we are supposed to be and what the world has such need of.