Rav Shimshon Pinkus has a beautiful piece that I haven't seen yet on Purim.
After we were saved from Egypt, we were brought "to the chuppah" at Har Sinai. After that, we spent 40 years together in the desert with little disruption. Then we came to Eretz Yisroel. Though we conquered much of the land, we did not conquer it all. Then the nation was brought together slowly but surely by Kings Shaul, Dovid, and Shlomo. The Beis HaMikdash was built and lasted for over four hundred years. It was destroyed after the sins of idol-worship, bloodshed, and illicit relations, and we were sent to Babylonia into exile. Throughout the several centuries between when we entered Eretz Yisroel and we were exiled, we had our ups and downs, but we never really left Hashem. We always turned towards Him, and He turned back towards us. Even much of the idol-worship did not stem from rebellion, rather from an inner-spiritual need for closeness to Hashem, but not directed in the right place.
Comes Achashverosh and something new occurs. Something that never occurred in Jewish history up until then. Achashverosh made a big, fat party, and said, "Everybody is invited! Even the Jews! And don't worry, the food is super-kosher, there will be minyanim, daf yomi, everything you need and want!" For the first time in history, we were no longer the downtrodden, but we were the friends. We were given a shot of not only living a life as Jews, but also to fully partake in society. And with this, we experienced a fall that we never experienced. Even though we had our kosher food, minyanim, daf yomi, etc., our life was no longer with Hashem, but it was being shared with another partner. And at that point, our connection between "Heaven and Earth" was severed. We used to have life with Hashem, even with all of the ups and downs, but now? Life was with Achashverosh, and life with Achashverosh is not life.
Then of course, the world surprised us. Haman comes to power and now our good friend Achashverosh becomes our most powerful enemy.
And now the Jews were stuck.
Up until then, when we were in such situations, we used Torah, tshuva and tefillah to return to Hashem. However, those were used when there was still a connection between us and Heaven. Now, there is no connection. So, Mordechai came and did something different. He instituted a fast. A three-day fast. Day and night. Even for children. He said to Hashem, "If you're not going to have mercy on us, we will not have mercy on them." At this point, Hashem "broke down." It was not Torah or teshuva or even tefillah, that did it. It was a crying out for mercy. With Torah, tshuva, and tefillah, we are initiating something, we are doing something that will hopefully show that we are worthy of saving. But here on Purim, we couldn't even do that. Our connection was lost. The only thing left was to cry. And when that happened, Hashem created a new connection between us.
As mentioned in previous years, the Medresh says that each and every year, the exact same mercy that Hashem poured into the world on the first Purim gets poured on every subsequent Purim. It's not some mere "remembrance," it's a real connection that He is offering us, just as He did so many years ago.
Therefore, on Purim, we have the ability to simply cry out and ask Hashem to make that connection between us, both on a personal and on a national level.
How much more important to do so this year. We have, once again, a Haman in Persia, literally controlling the world right now. All the major powers cannot do a thing against him. And each and every day, we watch nation after nation turning their backs on the Jews in Israel, and unfortunately, Jews within their own lands. Some relied on the United States, but as we see, both Biden and Trump, have made it clear that they will "end things quickly." Canada has stopped its support, with the UK and many in Europe on the way. The Israeli government can't stop internal bickering and clearly has no plan. Hezbollah has the high ground in northern Israel, threatening half the country with horrific destruction, and nobody can or will do anything about it. Jews around the world are being targeted and attacked, while the police shrug their shoulders and say, "we can't promise your safety."
The state of the nation is NOT good.
But this setup is eerily similar to that of Purim. After Esther "turned her back" on the Jewish nation by making a private party with Achashverosh and Haman, we had nobody else to turn to. Jews around the world were being persecuted and threatened with extinction. And nothing seemed to make sense.
May we all use this Purim to beg Hashem for salvation, both physically and spiritually. And hopefully, He will listen and save us from the nations of the world.
Have a wonderful and meaningful (and quiet) Shabbos and Purim.