How sad that a grown man – a single sorrowful, pitiful human being – could dash the hope and optimism of the world by plunging it into a stupid war. We all make dumb mistakes – but very few of have the distinction to make a mistake that causes the following:

• Young children, who should be in school and playing on playgrounds, are being killed, scared to death, and left fatherless. Instead their schools are bombed and they are living in a hell zone.
• Mothers who should be receiving the best of care to bring up their children are dying – some in maternity hospitals. This because in war there is no real safety and everyone is potential “collateral damage.”
• Young people, in Ukraine and Russia, who should be stretching their minds and talents to the benefit of society, are wasting their lives in a pointless war of one man’s doing
• The world, instead of solving great problems, like traveling to infinity and beyond, and helping the poor and the sick, have had their hopes reset with the realization that a modern-day madman can bring the storms of war to everyone’s doorstep.

These are the things that fall squarely on Mr. Putin. As such Putin earns, with ignominy, the “sad banana” award – he’s just a gross, rotten banana that nobody wants. How very sad.