Tuesday, March 29, 2022

The Growing Exodus, and - Will The Flowers Grow Again Someday?

 

                                                  Will The Flowers Grow Again Someday?

                                                  An original acrylic painting on gesso primed Masonite

                                                  13" X 15". unframed

                      

                                                           ( Click on image to enlarge. )


 

     In my last posting on this blog, I wrote about the war crimes being committed in Ukraine

by Vladimir Putin, resulting in the half million refugees who had already fled across the 

border, to escape death and destruction at the hands of the Russian military.  Now, as

the death toll continues to mount ever higher into the thousands, with no end in sight, the

number, of Ukrainian's who have been forced to flee their country, has quickly risen to 

four million.   About half of the refugees are children, many of whom are traumatized 

by the relentless days and nights of bombing and shelling of their cities and homes.  

Some of the children who were not able to escape Russia's slaughter of civilians, are 

now counted among the dead, and some who did manage to find safety, have been 

injured or have witnessed the deaths and injuries of friends and family members. 

     This brutal assault on the people of one country by a neighboring country is even 

more incomprehensible to young children than it is to adults.  So, in their own ways, 

they try to mimic the protective and loving behavior of their parents, as a coping 

mechanism, to deal with the traumas of their shattered world.  To a young child's 

mind, the faithful, little, stuffed-animal friend, which he or she has carried across 

the border, has also suffered injuries which need bandaging, and which is also 

in need of loving care, to dry the tears of pain and fear  

     And, after having made the long journey through the smouldering ruins 

and ashes of their abandoned homeland, such a child might well ask, 

"Will the flowers grow again someday?".

                                                                  Eugene P. McNerney