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
